Careers, neurodiverse learning and developing future skills with Stewart Hartshorne

All career journeys look different. And that’s never truer than for Stewart Hartshorne, who works in our Net Zero Training Academy as a Technical Training and Development Specialist. From starting his career as a PE teacher and becoming a police officer to joining E.ON as a novice joint meter technician, Stewart has done it all.

With his unique perspective, we spoke with Stewart to find out more about his career journey and how he’s training the workforce of the future with green skills.

Can you tell us about your career journey?

I actually started my career as a police officer with West Midlands Police. I then worked in secondary school education for about nine years. During my time there I did everything from head of year, PE teacher, safeguard lead and then running quite a large community centre. It was so rewarding but I discovered it wasn’t really for me.

That’s what led me to E.ON. I worked out I wanted a future in the energy industry. So I started as a novice joint meter technician where I learnt all about smart meters and gas and electricity supply. I spent my days visiting customers’ homes to support them, offer energy efficiency advice and fit meters.

After a few years, I wanted to do something more. And that’s when I found the role working in the training academy and I’m currently a Technical Training and Development Specialist.

What does your role as a Technical Training and Development Specialist involve?

I’m responsible for helping to upskill our engineers, and future generations, with the green skills needed to thrive in a more sustainable future.

I’m currently building partnerships with colleges and businesses to educate a wider community and help address the skills gap in green skills. I’m also developing a digital team to offer training through different platforms, using AI and e-learning, to help drive sustainable skills growth across city partnerships.

The primary aim is for our training academy to become an industry leading training provider across the UK.

What has been your biggest achievement in this role?

It has to be improving the training and learning experience for our neurodiverse colleagues. I’m not afraid say I've got a neurodiverse condition and that is I’m dyslexic. Being neurodiverse is something that you have no control of and it's a condition you have to deal with.

But when I joined the training academy, there wasn’t really much in the training material that covered neurodiverse conditions. There were various learners who couldn't pick up or adapt to various types of learning. My role in the training academy soon adapted from training meter technicians in smart engineering to developing trainers.

No matter what type of person, every person in the UK will learn one of four ways: audio, visual, written or practical. But when I joined the academy, the way we trained was pretty much all written – whether through PowerPoint or textbook. But not everybody can read that snippet and then put it into practice.

Using my background in secondary school education, I started looking at the training content and material and finding areas to improve, making it easier to get pass rates up, get people through the training quicker and make sure the learning had a strong, positive impact when put into practice in our customers’ homes.

As a result, we now do a mix of training aids such as videos, overlays, talkback and practical demonstrations, covering all four styles of learning. Plus being in a setting in the academy where a lot of it is technical, you tend to find that 95% of our workforce think with their hands in a practical way because that's their job. So, when you show them, they'll pick it up quicker than telling them.

I’m proud to say our pass rates have gone through the roof since adapting our training style and our neurodiverse colleagues, including myself, can now thrive in their learning and development. By covering all learning styles, we’re supporting and inspiring people to upskill because it’s now an easier process rather than trying to fight it alone.

What do you think makes training the next generation so special and important?

Well, without them we don’t have a workforce. And it’s as simple as that.

At E.ON, we say ‘it’s on us’ to make new energy work and it actually is. If we don't educate or support the next generation coming through, then there will be no green skills or no future. You can see the way it's going and the push from government on greens skills. We've got to make sure we keep pace on the education piece, starting with the younger generation of school leavers and apprentices to make sure they have the skills needed to deliver and succeed in the new energy world.

Not only are they going to be our future workforce, but they’re also going be our future customers, so you need to look at it through both lenses. By engaging with schools and communities now and sharing what we’re trying to achieve, we can bring them, and support them, on the journey to net zero. It means we all get to the end goal quicker, reducing bills and reducing our carbon footprint together.

What have been your highlights in your current role?

I’ve got so many highlights. But the main one for me is giving something back and making a difference.

My role is all about supporting growth, driving towards net zero and educating people to want to get involved and be part of the journey. And to see the look on young people’s faces when we’re bringing this to life in workshops is amazing. You can see the moment they understand what we’re all working towards, and the importance of building green skills.

So in short my highlight is making a different in society and helping to build the workforce of the future.

Have you had any challenges in delivering training?

We can sometimes be too slow to act as there are a lot of stakeholders involved in making decisions. I’m trying to get us to a place where we can move quicker and be more agile in what we’re trying to achieve – so the partners we’re wanting to work with don’t move on due to delays, restraints or restrictions.

What’s next for you?

There are several things that I’m excited to be involved in. I think one of the most rewarding and exciting ones, that will make the biggest impact, is Skills Street in Sheffield. Around 16,000 students go through that door every year, so we have the opportunity to truly make a difference.

We’re working with Skills Street to deliver STEM learning and workshops to really bring to life the energy transition for young people. We’re showing how we're working with customers, like their mums and dads, to help lower their household’s carbon footprint with solutions like solar panels, battery storage, electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps. And then going that one step further so they can see how it all comes together to create a mini city built with sustainability at its heart.

And that’s exactly what we’re doing through city partnerships like our Strategic Energy Partnership with Coventry City Council: helping communities up and down the country to meet net zero goals.

Finally, if you had to describe your role in three words, what would they be?

Epic, awesome and amazing.