Reflections on DSEI

DSEI is where the equipment manufacturers show off their wares to current and potential customers, politicians, and the media; where we hear the Defence ministers and services chiefs reflect on recent events and outline their plans for the coming years.  So, it was a pleasant surprise this year to see and hear people even more on everyone’s agenda.  Friday’s focus of the four-day event was on people and it was good to hear from Vice Admiral Phil Hally, Chief of Defence People, reflect on the recent people-focused reports and how he sees the future of this important topic. 

But with more content and forum sessions than ever before examining the essential role of our people, whether from their initial recruitment, training, skills development, or their lifetime learning journey through to leaving the forces, it’s clear that people are really being seen as the critical component within the defence industry. Some of the skills and people sessions were standing room only; the first time I’ve witnessed this. And as stated to me several times last week, “what use is all of this amazing kit without motivated and well-trained people to operate it?”

In his opening keynote, General Sir Patrick Sanders, Chief of the General Staff, confirmed the importance of training and reinvigorating the military’s approach to its people. The needs of modern warfare, demonstrated through the war in Ukraine, call for a new approach to leadership and skills assessment, recognising that new capabilities, such as digital, require new and different training to deliver specialist ‘war fighters’.

The recently published Haythornthwaite Review and Defence Command Paper Refresh (DCP23) both hold the MOD to account and explore the future of the Armed Forces, again highlighting the importance of people in defence. This was picked up by, among others, Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Tony Radakin and Brigadier James Cook, Director of the Army’s CASTLE programme, in their respective discussions. The incoming Pan Defence Skills Framework should help, putting to use the huge breadth and depth of people data, but in a cohesive manner and putting careers into the hands of the individual.

As sponsor of a couple of directly related panels, I’m pleased we tackled some thorny issues, looking at the challenges of recruitment for UK Armed Forces and the possible future skills requirements. How do we plan for skills training in 10 years’ time, when it’s not clear what those skills will be? The balance between hard and soft skills was an interesting discussion.

I also had the pleasure to be invited to co-deliver the opening and closing address of the International Recruitment Conference, a virtual, truly global conference with contributions from Japan in the east, to the US and Canada in the west. And there were some fascinating insights from the French, German and Netherlands contributors on their very different approaches and the mixed levels of success. I commend my Army colleagues for an excellent, well run and well attended event.

My final, personal, observation is how fantastic it was to have the whole team involved in this landmark event, DSEI. Three plus years on from covid, this way of working is less part of our usual model now.  But working together, in person, created a hugely positive atmosphere and makes me realise how important it is to get even more ‘face-time’ together as a team.