Will Serle

Will Serle serves as Chief People Officer at National Grid and is a member of the company's Group Executive Committee. His role sits at the center of workforce decisions for an organization that operates critical electricity and gas infrastructure across the United Kingdom and the Northeastern United States. His responsibilities place him within discussions that connect business strategy, workforce planning and leadership capability across a large and geographically dispersed employee base.

Hiring for Work that Spans Decades

Utilities encounter a unique personnel management challenge compared to most other sectors of the economy. Investments in infrastructure usually take decades to materialize, but personnel issues can resolve themselves more rapidly. The key problem here is not only how many workers are needed now. It is about the ability of organizations to acquire competencies for work that might take decades into the future.

Serle's function is set against this background. National Grid’s workforce covers all kinds of processes, from network operations to large-scale energy infrastructure projects. Personnel management at this level implies the need to make tradeoffs between the current recruitment needs and future requirements for the personnel of the organization.

This issue assumes special significance in the light of the constant evolution of the energy sector and its demands for the workforce. Therefore, the work on the workforce becomes a continuous process.

Keeping People Decisions Connected to Business Direction

Human resource leadership has come close to the sphere of decision-making at the level of executives. There are factors relating to the workforce that now affect business plans in areas other than personnel management.

Being one of the members of the executive leadership of National Grid, Serle’s role must be related to corporate needs. It is necessary to think about organizational structures, leadership abilities and readiness of the workforce to achieve corporate goals.

Big corporations usually have operations in various markets, regulated by different legislation and operating under different conditions for workers. To be aligned in all these cases, the approach to people leadership should be the same but taking into account the peculiarities of each area.

Managing Change without Losing Engagement

Organizational change periods can create stress amongst employees due to new expectations and emerging priorities. It is the duty of workforce leaders to ensure that organizations go through these periods smoothly while remaining engaged and stable.

National Grid works in an industry where change and transformation are constant. Workforce considerations tend to follow changes in technology, infrastructure needs and business priorities. In such an industry, people leadership becomes more than workforce management; it involves issues of communication, leadership success and organizational agility.

This is Serle’s position. The job demands consideration of the way change affects the employees and how leaders lead their teams amidst changing business environments.

Building Leadership beyond Immediate Needs

One of the responsibilities of a chief people officer is preparing organizations for leadership needs that may not emerge for several years. Leadership development is often measured over long periods, making it different from many short-term business initiatives.

For organizations operating critical infrastructure, continuity matters. Leadership transitions, workforce capability and institutional knowledge all influence long-term performance. People leaders, therefore, work within timelines that extend beyond annual planning cycles.

Serle's role reflects that long-range perspective. His responsibilities connect workforce planning with broader organizational goals, helping ensure that future leadership requirements remain part of current decision-making.

People leadership within large utility organizations requires balancing workforce needs that exist today with capabilities that will be required years from now. Will Serle's role at National Grid reflects that responsibility. His position sits at the intersection of executive decision-making and workforce stewardship, where long-term planning, leadership development and employee readiness remain closely connected to organizational performance.