The team at Metricate have also showed us how our business plan could be restructured to provide a coherent company vision, mission and strategy for communication to our staff.

Using his HR background John Herbert has rewritten our performance management process, trained the assessors, helped us to identify cost savings and acted as a sounding board for thorny HR issues.

Stepnell had been appointed main contractor for the £20m construction of the New Minster College, Leominster. The project represented both a huge opportunity for our company and a large risk should they struggle to deliver it on time, to budget and to the right quality.

Whilst Stepnell’s supply chain had recently completed the construction of Whitecross School, areas for improvements had been identified. The team should NOT be described as failing or in crisis - quite the contrary; the team had performed well at Whitecross, delivering “the best or second best learning environment in the country,” Colin Ashford, BRE.

Our aim was to raise the team’s performance to a higher level, through integration and collaboration, to ensure the successful delivery of the new Minster College project.

The Challenge

Project objectives included:

• To establish a collaborative approach between supply chain members
• To raise the level of effective team working through:
  • greater self-awareness,
  • improved communication channels
  • developing non-adversarial relationships
  • a sharing of key performance indicators
• To increase the management & leadership competence of each supply chain member by:
  • benchmarking both management competence and the personal, communications and management styles
  • identify skills gaps, prepare individual development plans and signpost to appropriate skills development sources

Our Approach

The initiative worked with 26 individuals from 18 organisations, all of whom were key to the construction of The Minster College. This included individuals from both the client (Herefordshire council) & the end user (Deputy Principle of Minster College), the primary contractor (Stepnell), and tier 1 and 2 of the supply chain members; bringing together an eclectic group including civil servants, teachers, architects, construction managers, consultants and engineers from the public and private sectors

The initiative commenced with a two-day individual assessment of management competence using the internationally recognised diagnostic tool, Managerial Assessment of Proficiency (MAP). Throughout the first day individuals were assessed against twelve core management competencies, plus ten behavioural styles. During the second day the team learnt more about the management competencies and styles assessed, results were discussed in groups and individual development plan prepared with emphasis on collaborative working. Everyone was provided with interactive self-study materials and signposted to different development resources and support agencies.

The team then came together at the Collaborative Working Workshop. During these two days, a number of facilitated activities were delivered to address the importance of collaboration & integration; establish a common approach & language; and recognise everybody’s contribution. By the end of session the team had agreed a set of principles to guide the way in which they would interact and most importantly, defined their success criteria.

The Results

“The training achieved the following objectives for Stepnell, not all of which were defined when the project was scoped:

• Very good team building between partners at a senior level in the supply chain.  Construction is a people industry and with modern communications and methods of procurement it is often difficult to meet the people on whose ability and commitment our reputation depends.  This high level training provided team members to meet and interact around a worthwhile activity.  The result is that problems can be resolved before they become issues through a telephone conversation.
• A broader recognition of the power of lean construction and its application to both our project and each organisation that attended.  In certain cases it was driven down to a personal level as individuals were challenged to reduce waste.  The advantage to Stepnell of this learning is that this recognition makes the learning that we have carried out elsewhere more efficient and easier to apply to our project.  The secondary benefit is that our supply chain is now more efficient and hopefully better equipped to withstand the current economic pressures.
• Whilst the bulk of attendees were from our supply chain there were clear benefits to Stepnell with the client present.  The exercise demonstrated our commitment to collaborative working and the competence of our supply chain, which should stand us in better a position next time we have to bid to win work from this client.
• Also attending were senior representatives from the school.  One comment that the deputy head made was that she had never appreciated the complexity of the industry and the variety of people who are attracted to it and work within it.  Hopefully this awareness will translate into some of her brighter students being pointed towards construction as a worthwhile and fulfilling career.
• One of the surprising benefits was the outcome to the management skills benchmarking exercise.  This showed that we had a wide variety of skills and levels of ability amongst the team.  It showed that some of the project leaders were not necessarily the best managers and that some of the minor partners had huge potential.  This realisation and acceptance somehow took pressure from the leaders that they had to have all the answers and that they were allowed to listen and use inputs from all the team.  It also demonstrated that a team that averaged out to close to the county’s norm in ability could still deliver an exceptional school that was better in many ways to the vast majority of schools nationally.”

“Key to these benefits was the professionalism and skill of the two individuals who carried out the training.  They had a wide variety of skills, expectations and careers to bring together which they did professionally, challengingly and with a huge amount of empathy.  Had this level of professionalism not been achieved then the day could have been a disaster and instead of benefits we would have been into a disaster limitation exercise.”

Mark Wakeford, Managing Director

Alan Lyons, Project Manager for the the Minster College project reports personal experience of positive changes in behaviour beyond expectations directly attributable to the initiative. Examples include:

“The high level of positive communication among the various supply chain partners in problem sharing and solving situations and better programming, sequencing and coordination all of which have contributed to the successful delivery of the project on-time and on-budget”.

“The management of the project has developed greater autonomy with the increased trust and awareness of each other’s roles and responsibilities minimising the need to escalate problems or issues”.

Alan and members of the team have self-regulated the changes in behaviour by reinforcing the ways of working agreed day-by-day throughout the life of the project, recognising and praising positive behaviour and challenging areas in deficit.

Whilst the move to a divisional structure had developed a strong entity focus, it had diminished the previously strong ‘Team Shaylor’ ethos. The Shaylor Group required a rebalance of the team focus with the aim of developing a high performance team

The Challenge

The project objectives included:

• Individuals & Groups to understand and feel involved & committed to the Shaylor Corporate Social Responsibility programme.
• The Shaylor team to understand and feel involved & committed to the Shaylor  ’Vision, Mission, Values’ and ’09 / 10 Business Plan’.
• Individuals to understand both their role and others’ in relation to the Shaylor ‘big picture’ of organisational growth. 
• Individuals and Groups to understand the expectations of their performance. 
• Individuals and Groups possess greater self-awareness and awareness of others
• Re-balance the team focus

Our Approach

Business Planning and the development of Shaylor’s Vision, Mission & Values has been used as a ‘vehicle’ to promote team development

• Facilitated strategic planning meetings with senior management team to:
  • Define key business deliverables, target aims, and critical success factors for the company over the next 12 month period.
  • Define characteristics of ‘Shaylor’s high performance team’
  • Plan a communications strategy for the 09/10 Business Plan 
• ‘Visioning event’ with both senior and middle managers to:
  • Develop the Shaylor Vision, Mission & Values through a bottom-up consultation process.
  • Define the characteristics of the Shaylor’s high performance team, outlining expectations, behaviours, and roles & responsibilities.
  • Facilitate Team Development activities.
  • Communicate the Business Plan.
• Series of ‘Site Links’ with site management teams to consult staff on the business planning activities, outline key deliverables and expectations, and facilitate team development activities.

The Results

“We asked Metricate to help us to develop a Corporate Social Responsibility programme which was then expanded to help us develop our values, define our critical success factors and key deliverables for the year ahead.”

“The team at metricate have also showed us how our business plan could be restructured to provide a coherent company vision, mission and strategy for communication to our staff.”

Using his HR background John Herbert has rewritten our performance management process, trained the assessors, helped us to identify cost savings and acted as a sounding board for thorny HR issues.”

Steve Shaylor, CEO, Shaylor Group

A hugely successful and rapidly growing organisation, Lakehouse required a solution package that would equip its people with the right competencies to manage the company’s rapid growth and future expansion plans.

The Challenge

Project objectives include:

• Creating high performance management teams, robust to the challenges of current and future expansion plans
• A Culture change – developing a ‘coaching style’ of management within the senior team
• Introducing a common management language across the organisation
• Identifying, cultivating and retaining ‘Stars of the future’.

Our Approach

The Metricate team:

• Designed and implemented the ‘Lakehouse Management Academy’ designed to give current and aspiring middle and senior managers a comprehensive grounding in the latest leadership and management techniques.
• Team development day with the senior management team to develop team cohesion and enhance performance.
• Introduced an executive coaching support programme to assist managers with implementing new learning and address any barriers to development.
• Developed and facilitated a bespoke ‘Coaching for Success’  programme  for senior managers

The Results

“The programme has been a remarkable success; so much so that we’ve taken the decision to embark on a second academy programme.”

“Metricate has significantly helped our management team to develop both competences and confidence in managing their own teams.”

Ken Power, Organisational Development Director, Lakehouse.

Peter Alder’s early career began in electronics engineering, specialising in auto identification technologies. With a natural flare for Sales and Marketing, Peter held senior positions within the sector, working both nationally and internationally for the likes of Esselte Meto and API.

More recently, Peter has worked for the LSC, RDA, and Business Link managing a variety of learning projects and funding streams including ESF, train to gain, and treasury monies.

Peter is the founding partner of Metricate Ltd and enjoys a business development and client management role.

Graham is a qualified practitioner in Metricate MAP and delivers both initial Assessments and follow-up coaching support, primarily on a one-to-one basis, to enable individuals and their companies to gain the full benefit of their development programmes.

Over 30 years, he has had director-level roles in large and small organisations, with national qualifications in training, coaching and counseling. He has helped businesses in many sectors, including Vodaphone, Williams Formula 1, Hanson, Ricoh and many others.