In Part 2 of this blog series, Dom Moorhouse of Method Grid and Paul Wilson of Provelio will focus on how the use of Method Grid has enabled them to improve project delivery, reduce risk and add value through focusing management time more effectively on those critical issues and risks that warrant the most attention.
Provelio have found that most teams in construction struggle to get time to focus on the few vital tasks. They are constantly challenged with re-work and inefficiency that, in turn, prevents them working as smartly as they would like. This is a strange phenomenon given that so much of construction is the same from project to project. Identifying that commonality is at the heart of improving productivity for the sector. Improved productivity will mean improved project and business performance for all those involved whether they be clients, contractors or consultants.
Management time is an incredibly valuable resource.
Clients want to get the most from their own time and the time they buy from consultants or contractors. A good rule of thumb for any manager is to categorise your work in the following way:
- Procedural: Work of a repetitive and administrative nature best done by people who specialise in working smartly and efficiently. There is opportunity here to process map, template and standardise.
- Grey hair: Work that needs you to have “been round the block a few times” and seen good and bad projects; this is work that requires a bit of thought but mostly needs familiarity of issues that regularly occur.
- Brains: Work that is unique or tricky that you need your best people on their “A Game” to solve; this work requires innovation and creativity and the answer may not be obvious.
If you are new to a management role you may well be involved in procedural work as you learn the ropes of what needs to be done.
As you gain more experience (and sadly some grey hair), you will be aware of likely tripping points that you can navigate round as you will have encountered them before. Getting these things in place will then free up the time to spend on the crucial matters.
We all, however, sadly, get to a point where we cannot hold all that we know in our heads and still function. We need to capture and adopt a consistent approach to deliver projects so that we can systematically capture best practice, refine the way we work, look for efficiencies in time and cost and improve the end product. It means that anyone new that joins our organisation can quickly know “how we do things around here” and their onboarding becomes a really positive experience – they realise they made the right choice to join you. Your more experienced team members can steadily unload what they know in a manner that allows others to follow – knowing that it has been tried and tested. This means that they have more time to improve the service knowing that the team supporting them will do it to the standards that they and the clients expect – delegation becomes effective. All of this creates a smart environment in which to work – freeing up the vital hours to spend on the critical issues and risks.
At Provelio, we have found over many years of project delivery that clients enjoy working with great people but they also want the service to be as reliable as a product – like a car or a phone.
They want it to work when it should and do what it is supposed to. The flair and imagination is only needed when there is “Brains work” to be done – the rest of the time they want clockwork. No dramas or surprises. They really dislike experienced people and organisations making mistakes on the simple things that have been done a thousand times before. You don’t have to lose your personality; you just need to enhance it by being truly effective and productive.
People will naturally capture what they know and save best practice but you want that shared within the business amongst everyone. You then take great work and make it even better. But you need to have a framework in which to capture that smart working and in a platform that is easily accessed on a daily basis at anytime and anywhere. Method Grid has provided Provelio exactly the tool for this. It has enabled Provelio to capture procedure and “grey hair” knowledge in order to free up the management time focus on the end client’s critical risks and issues.
Blog Series:
Part 1 – Knowledge in Professional Service Firms (PSFs): Adopting a Method