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Viraf Avari, Transformation & Operating Model expert and Tom Becker, Operating Model expert, at PA Consulting, write about how integration must be a guiding light, not an add-on
Unlocking large-scale programme value through collaborative operating models
Images: PA Consulting
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arge-scale transport programmes are becoming more frequent as governments around the world see the chance to boost economic growth by investing in new infrastructure. In the UK, for example, analysis suggests that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill could boost the economy by as much as £7.5 billion over the next 10 years. But the grander the vision, the greater the complexity. And the bigger the risk that programmes will run over time and budget, or that outcomes won’t match the promise of that early artist’s impression. This challenge is compounded by global macroeconomic challenges, such as heightened trade tensions, tariff increases, and delays in infrastructure investment.
their own stakeholders, supply chains, objectives, milestones, and deadlines – many of them enshrined in their own contracts. From the start, this encourages project teams to focus on their own goals rather than work with each other towards shared overall outcomes. As individuals, people working on a major programme understand the importance of collaborating across projects, and there are shared goals declared early in a programme, warmly endorsed by everyone involved. But because teams don’t have the structures and environment to encourage and enable collaboration, ingrained habits kick in once work starts in earnest. So how can major programmes avoid the pitfalls of paying
lip service to collaboration and make integration a priority to lock in economic gains? The route to successful collaboration in complex programmes is a combination of rewired behaviours, structures, and processes that stimulate and sustain collaboration – all of which underpin a new kind of integrated operating model. This is the approach we’ve taken with several major programmes, most recently The Euston Partnership (TEP). It’s also allowed our clients to get even more practical value from many of the principles of Project 13 – an initiative mainly driven by the civil engineering sector. Here’s what we learned and how leaders can use it to drive growth.
Drive programme success through leadership commitment
Integration must early in the programme. The programme’s client, or sponsor, should visibly and regularly get behind these It’s easy to see why large-scale programmes can run shared outcomes from the start, and champion the into problems of the sort that has delayed the UK’s be a guiding light, collaborative behaviour needed to achieve them. This High Speed 2. These goliath-sized programmes way, everyone is clear how much a collaborative are often made up of multiple projects, each with not an add-on
Ideally, project teams will commit to shared outcomes
From individual goals to shared wins
Dec 25/Jan 26