Not long after the completion of Terminal 5, Development Projects launched a business transformation programme. They were seeking quicker, lower risk and more beneficial implementation of their projects. Whilst they were shrewd enough to recognise that altering procedures alone would not achieve the necessary behavioural changes; they also recognised that trying to achieve the changes off the back of inconsistent methods and processes would not be sensible.

One set of processes in need of updating existed around the project lifecycle and it’s supporting assurance functions. With LHR’s overarching transformation to a benefits led programme organisation, aligned to recognisable industry standards, this lifecycle refresh was a critical undertaking requiring buy-in from all levels of the organisation and also needed to be done with pace, a challenging undertaking but one LHR took head-on.

Because of this and especially the need to move at pace it was decided to conduct a ‘Blitz’ week; key stakeholders from the delivery and operational interface communities were invited to participate in an intensive five day exercise. This would culminate with a live presentation at the end of week, to the senior leadership team of the Development Projects division, of the proposed lifecycle. The presentations objective was to gain their endorsement for developing the detailed view and supporting sub-processes of lifecycle management and project assurance.

CITI was engaged to guide and facilitate the ‘blitz’ week for several reasons; our acknowledged expertise in industry standards (Cabinet Office, APM etc), a proven track record in assisting other large organisations with similar challenges and expertise in delivery of change management initiatives and their governance. This would all prove valuable and is also coupled to a strong ethos of practical application. This meant they could quickly translate external best practice and fundamental principles into LHR’s language and existing processes. Working from first principles the team started by matching existing practice to a stage gated process; the client quickly came to re-discover the value of some fundamental ‘rules’ that had been lost in the development of their current processes. Three particularly valuable points were:

1. The primacy of the business case in steering projects to a successful conclusion
2. Differentiating approvals from authorisations, and
3. Early and consistent involvement of the users to achieve benefit.

They also discovered some new techniques; how to effectively tailor the processes to individual circumstances and the necessity for partnership between the project manager, sponsor and the affected lines of business to agree appropriate courses of action within the framework. This included identifying ways of shortening the project durations through tailoring the assurance processes that supported the project lifecycle. This was achieved by tailoring the level of assurance through a semi-automated approach, dependent on the risk and complexity of the project; this would ultimately break the dependence on ‘heavy-duty’ formalised board reviews of all projects.

Of course, process alone wouldn’t deliver the benefits. These would depend on the project management and sponsoring community adjusting their behaviour to a more cost and risk balanced approach to the establishment of governance for each piece of work. Further development was needed to start making this change but the lifecycle and processes started to act as pull-through for this to take place. Foremost amongst these additional changes were the development and delivery, by CITI, of sponsor and senior management capability in leading change initiatives from a benefits and outcomes based perspective. Of similar importance was the work, on developing and delivering, for both the programme/project management and also the sponsor and business functions, the material to understand and craft effective business cases – a significant and ongoing initiative.

The far-sightedness and wisdom of Heathrow’s investment is paying off. During a recent best-practice seminar the sponsor of the work was able to publicly identify several critical changes in the organisation’s behaviour. Foremost amongst these was the ability to take a forward looking view of why a piece of work should or shouldn’t proceed. The convention still operated by many organisations is that proceeding is based on approval of what has gone before rather than authorisation of what is to come. To get to this point different questions, different areas of expertise and different mind-sets need to be applied – if they are, benefit delivery becomes much less challenging.

Opportunity

The challenge facing Network Rail managers is considerable. They have to deliver commercial benefits within demanding financial, quality, health & safety and legislative parameters, within a complex stakeholder environment.

This presents challenges far beyond the traditional understanding of engineering programmes, whose principal goal is frequently seen to be the delivery of engineering solutions.

Approach

In the face of tough competition, CITI was delighted and proud to be selected as the supplier for all project, programme, and sponsor level development for Network Rail.

“We have already piloted six of the core courses – each followed up by a course review day to establish the impact and effectiveness of the programme. Of particular note from the reviews is the fundamental importance that the role of portfolio manager has to overall programme and project delivery,” remarked Thomas Docker, CITI Client Director for Network Rail.

CITI’s portfolio management course was tailored to include Network Rail specific cases. As Alistair Kirk, Director of the Programme Control Office identified, “The long-term goal is to have in place a centre of excellence, and we are currently assessing how to implement it. In the short term, we are focusing on increasing the level of competence prior to rolling out best practice systems and practices”.

Outcome

Network Rail’s commitment to improving project management is reflected in a series of one-day seminars that the organisation puts on, at which invites are extended to other enterprises. CITI is working with Network Rail on the next seminar to be run later in the year. The topic area will be project controls – seen through the eyes of portfolio, programme and project managers.

Opportunity

As part of its alignment to the APM, EC Harris has embarked on a development programme for its wider project community based on APM’s Project Management Competency Framework (PMCF). The highly pragmatic approach has seen CITI working alongside EC Harris to produce mappings between the PMCF and EC Harris project community roles. For each role, some of the competence areas in the PMCF have been identified as core, while others have been identified as supporting competences.

Approach

Individual role holders self-assessed against their core and supporting competences. This was followed up with each person being interviewed by a CITI consultant to evaluate their self-assessment of core competences and identify potential development needs. The analysis of those that have participated so far has been used to identify individual development needs. Many of these needs are shared with others and a development programme has been planned to address both individual and group activities. A blend of learning events is being used, with a focus on support within the workplace, to ensure that the desired impacts are made.

Outcome

This approach is also being used to the benefit of EC Harris’ clients. Most recently it has been deployed for the teams working with BAA at Heathrow, ensuring that EC Harris meets critical client requirements of alignment to, and excellence in, industry best practice such as APM and OGC.

As a company that provides managed services, EC Harris has identified other competences that are relevant to their project community and these have been included in the development plans. Brian Snowdon, EC Harris Professional Services L&D Consultant observed that, “To be famous for PPM, EC Harris has to be able to demonstrate it is at the forefront in project and programme management. In particular, it is important to us that any development has a focus on building best practice, so that we deliver successful outcomes for our clients.”