Driving Higher Performance

Alleviate Consulting Limited was asked by Amey to develop a Fully Integrated Supply Chain across Area 6 & 8. We were to navigate a contract from very difficult waters to much calmer water by facilitating a number of workshops. The workshops were to take place every 6 months over a three year period between April 2016 and April 2019. We were to create a Community with Highways England, Amey and its Supply Chain to Drive Higher Performance across both areas, which was the constant theme of our workshops.

Our first workshop with 70 delegates from Highways England, Amey and its Supply Chain was facilitated by ourselves to commence the whole process of moving from a low performing contract to a high performing contract. Our aim was always to take Amey and its Supply Chain to be best in class across the HE Community.

To achieve our brief, we first had to identify the current climate within Area 6 & 8 and bring out all the issues. We implemented a few interactive exercises throughout the workshop to draw out the issues from all parties and start breaking down barriers. It was also very

important to ask the invited audience to bring forward possible solutions and the actions required to implement those ideas. Alleviate Consulting Limited strongly believes in giving everyone a voice to fully engage and achieve buy in from the delegates.

We clearly outlined at the very start of the workshop that change is about to take place to drive higher performance in the best interests of all parties. We had to draw a line in the past and leave all the baggage outside so everyone had to stand up and walk forward positively and not wait for someone else to do it first.

The first workshop was extremely well received with some delegates stating it was the best one in all their careers. We ended the first workshop with a meal, a few beers and an overnight stay to continue understanding each other as people.

The second workshop was again attended by 70 delegates from across both areas of the Community. The workshop was about presenting our findings from the first workshop and presenting proposals on how to move forward. All delegates had previously been

sent a report – with all the results from our first workshop – in advance of the second workshop. Our proposals were presented for approval and accepted by the delegates as the first building blocks to a higher performing Community.

We made several proposals:

1. To create a vision and values

2. To establish Community Groups to drive improvements

3. Create a market stall to provide a voice to the Supply Chain

4. Introduce a Community Induction so everyone is on the same page

5. Provide BS11000 awareness to understand the ethos of collaboration

6. Introduce a Behavioural Maturity Framework to understand the importance of positive behaviours

The proposals were accepted and after lunch we created a vision and agreed core values across the community.

The vision was: “Collaborate Effectively, Deliver Exceptionally, Home Safe.”

The values were: Trust, Honesty, Reliability, Integrity, Respect.

We also established 6 core groups within the Community to drive higher performance based on the results from the first workshop. Chair persons and deputy chairs were elected with a clear brief to present back at next workshop with quick wins, short, medium & long term goals to be achieved across the Community. The groups were made up of all the delegates, who were asked to choose a group they were most passionate about. Passionate people will deliver quicker with empowerment and direction.

The groups were: Steering Group, Operational Performance, Communication, Health & Safety, Culture and Process.

The two workshops were a huge success and just the first steps to a much brighter, higher performing future for all concerned.