Be my Guest…Oliver Auston
Oliver Austin, CEO, Safehold, took over as chair of the LEEA Board in January, following Kat Moss’s tenure and will work alongside Dave Cormack, vice chair, for two years.
No stranger to the role, Auston was chair from 2015 to 2017 and joins at a momentous time for the Association as it celebrates its 80th anniversary this year.
“I've been involved with LEEA for over a decade now and I joined the LEEA Board originally because I was very frustrated with what it was delivering to me as a member and the impact I felt it had across the world and certainly from the outside,” said Auston.
“My viewpoint, I guess, was slightly distorted because I wasn't aware of the inner workings of LEEA and it wasn’t until previous chair, Phil White grabbed hold of me and said, we’ve no problem with you throwing stones from the outside but if you want to make changes, come and do it from the inside and help us out, so that's when I started my LEEA journey and I've never looked back since, understanding how many great people there are within the business and the important work we do and the impact we can have to reduce workplace accidents and improve the understanding of the safe use of lifting products across the world, and all those kind of synergetic industries and how we really do impact on people's lives is something that's become a personal journey. So that's why I'm here and that's why I've decided to do this one more time.
“The last time I was chair was in a different period of time. Now we're seeing exciting, advanced growth, new territories and a new format of engaged board members. I've never felt more empowered and more supported by a board and confident to drive our strategic plan forward.”
Celebrating the association’s 80th anniversary this year, Auston said he recalls their 70th anniversary event being held in London and how “it's wonderful to see the association develop into its 80th year. We've got a few things that we want to mark the occasion with. It’s a big milestone for us, but also testament to the belief people have in LEEA and how important it is and the success we're having, not just in membership growth, but the digital platforms we have pioneered around the world through our eLearning, embracing apprenticeships and spearheading that.
“We're not even close to finishing. This is just the beginning for us and what a fantastic 80th year to celebrate.”
Talking about his new role, Auston said the Board recently signed off a strategic plan that takes it through to the next five years.
“Being at the start of that journey and being responsible and accountable for the delivery of some of these strategic milestones, taking onboard new key leadership roles, making sure the strategy and roadmap is adhered to and being accountable to our members to help us deliver that plan and develop the skills within LEEA is really important.
“And even though I won’t be the chair at the end of those five years, I'd like to leave a legacy of having had a positive impact of arriving at our destination. And, if that's the legacy I'll leave behind with the support of the immediate past chair Kat Moss, who's done an amazing job in keeping the association very stable, pioneering some of the work that we did with the apprenticeship to name just a few, and then being supported going forward with people like Dave Cormack, is a real privilege and I can't tell you how excited I am to get started,” he said.
LEEA is also hoping to increase its international membership this year.
“We're in a really interesting crossover point between physical footprint and digital footprint and that gives us a great opportunity, but it shouldn't give complacency in the more organic roots to market as well,” added Auston.
“It does mean there is a responsibility on members and on member companies, and people that sign up to our good values to support us all the way through to end user conversations, to trying to ensure that when big end users call out for inspection work, they are demanding, and expecting that Gold standard of LEEA engineers. So, there's work to be done on both sides.
“But, at the same time through the work that we push out in eLearning, it becomes much more possible to turn that platform into multiple languages so we can expand into new territories.
“However, we need to understand the local dialect, local standards and all the nuances of the industry in another country and we need to put the resources into place, not just through our eLearning material, but our technical capability and auditing delivery to be able to support those organizations when we go into new territories.
“As we look at our strategic plan, and as we look to grow, we need to ask ourselves; have we got that alignment, do we have the right eLearning, do we have the right physical blended learning platforms, do we understand the narrative, do we understand the standards? Can we technically support it? Are we involved in standards development? Are we lobbying for that country for change? If we're not doing those things, we're falling short of the mark and we shouldn't embark on that campaign.
“It's my job to make sure that when we do set about these quests of growth and strategic change with the organization that we resource it appropriately and we deliver for success.
And I think that's going to be the difference in how we approach growth and how we approach scale for the first time in LEEA.
Click here to watch the full interview on LEEA YouTube
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