Client Case Study - Civil Engineering

The Company

Part of a £1.4Bn group, this Civil Engineering company has a global business - managing construction projects in road building, bridge building and construction in many countries around the world.

In the U.K. this business works closely with The Highways Agency, many Water Boards, Rail Companies, Mobile Telephone Operators, and English Heritage. They also undertake many other “one-off,” projects such as Docklands Light Railway, The Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and Football Stadium construction.

The Need

For each individual Project, teams are created to undertake the job. These teams would range from only a few people - if the job was for a mobile telephone mast installation, up to several hundred people for a major motorway construction contract. Teams would comprise of Project Managers, Agents, Surveyors, Quantity Surveyors, Engineers, Foremen, Supervisors and Workers and would often disband at the successful conclusion of the Project, only to be re built for new jobs as they came up. Due to the complexity of this business it was very common for people to work together sometimes for only a few weeks, other times for several years. More often than not, staff at all levels worked with different people on different jobs most of the time – the personnel situation was constantly changing and represented a real challenge to the business.

Given the level of autonomy each Project was given, this created a huge need for managers – (typically Project Managers, Agents, Surveyors, and Engineers) to manage their teams most effectively in a fast changing environment. It was also recognised that whatever was delivered would have to be practical and useful for managers to use in the real world of a construction site and at the appropriate level.
They did not want anything “fancy,” but did want things that would work for their people. It was also important that these tools and skills should build into a “Management Toolkit,” which could be taken from one Project to another, so that overall, the company would enjoy a net “gain,” - since these ideas could be applied at any time, any where with any one of the team.

As is very common, the target audience for the development were very well educated and industry qualified. In broad terms however, the vast majority had never had any formal management training and the Client was keen to change this. Staff attrition had also been a problem with the better workers being poached by the competition and there was a perception by the business generally that the only way up the career ladder was to move to another construction company. Clearly this was very costly.

Action

Following some extensive field research undertaken - involving many site visits and interviews with a wide range of personnel, a programme of Management Development was agreed and delivered personally by Tony Armstrong. The initiative supported the company strategy which was designed to help break down barriers, improve communication and create synergies within teams and the wider business.

With the added value of the Management Development Programme being launched by the Directors at conference, it was felt that as a result of this, a five percent improvement in success of winning future projects would have a massive positive impact on bottom line profitability. It must be noted that the success of winning new contracts in this industry is always a great deal dependent upon how effective the team has worked on earlier projects for their client. It was also critical that no penalties were incurred on a job, since this also had massive financial implications for the business.

In summary, the client agreed that improving the management of the teams in the field would represent a direct link to a future increase in turnover and therefore in profitability.

Results

The success of the programme has been undoubted, with feedback being extremely positive from all areas of the business. Part of the success has been due to the practicality of the training - where Managers have highlighted they are able to use the tools and skills on site and in sometimes very difficult working conditions.
The programme has been advanced to the stage where, prior to the training and as a part of their agreed Interim task, managers are preparing detailed business - specific case studies, featuring real issues that they have had to face as managers. These have then been used on training modules for others to learn from, in the comparative safety of the training room - with feedback being extremely positive as a result.

Back in the business, regular 1:1’s are now taking place between managers and team members - with the use of objective Performance Management tools built on the programme. The modular approach has meant that managers were able to use and evaluate the ideas back on site with their people and then return to report back formally on progress. This has been extremely useful in helping the team implement and develop the ideas that work for them in their environment with their people and they have delivered better results from their team as a result.

Managers have reported that they have been able to take their “Management Toolkit,” from one project to another and that already staff they have not worked with before have heard about the ideas and are responding to the new way of working. Attrition has diminished as managers’ teams are more motivated to stay loyal to them and the client. Managers reported back to Directors on the added value that the training has delivered. Further, a key success factor has been that this initiative is seen as a client initiative, rather than “fancy ideas,” in the training room.

Directors have highlighted that their contract awarding clients are reporting favourable feedback on their people’s performance, which obviously augers well when winning new and repeat business.

Managers are still returning for regular Refresher Workshops, several months after the initial Programme and the tools and skills have now been adopted by the company and complement various H.R. initiatives with internal appraisals and reviews. Support of the client I.I.P. process has also been a key feature and is an ongoing process.

Already significant savings have been made in the reduction of penalty claims and the client feels this is a lot to do with staff being more open to their line managers when mistakes occur – and earlier on. There had previously existed quite a “blame culture,” in which people would try and sweep errors under the carpet, rather than face the music with their immediate superior. This had knock-on consequences that proved extremely costly to projects and the business. The programme is therefore going a long way to contribute to the “Zero Defects,” company aim.