Transform Your Business performance Today

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Hello, I have chosen some of the more challenging examples of work I have undertaken and had the most success with. Listed below are real examples of situations I have addressed over many years. As you can imagine, there are countless examples that could be drawn upon, but for ease those listed provide a wide array of complexities, outcomes and results that provide some context to how Veritas Facilities Management can help you. 

Setting: An integrated Total Facilities Management Contract covering the UK and NI to 13 separate UK Government Ministerial Bodies of varying sizes and complexities under one NEC3 CCS Framework Contract.

Situation: Due to challenges incurred at mobilisation and transition compounded by the complexity and diversity of the customer needs the contract was significantly failing to meet any of the Key Performance Indicators or margin expectations outlined at the bid stage. As a result, there were challenges appearing in the relationship between the service provider and the customers as there were little signs of improvement. 

Fatigue and frustration were also being exhibited in the contract delivery team, who were originally from 4 separate service providers and had yet to be “onboarded” fully to the new organisation.

Constraints: 

· The scale and complexity of the contract along with the inherent issues that had been encountered presented a unique challenge and specifically how to prioritise which items to address first. 

· The fact that this was a prominent public sector customer, where there was a high public interest also had to be considered when making decisions and implementing change.

· Heavily unionised and specifically in Central London. 

· Differing customer needs, priorities, and opinions.

· Legacy of a challenged mobilisation and incomplete transition. 

Enablers: 

· The organisation had recognised the need to introduce additional and talented leadership to instigate the changes required. 

· Customers were supportive of the change and buoyed by the change and investment made.

· Despite frustration, the account team were still motivated to make the necessary changes.  

Needs:

· Regain customers confidence that service quality will be achieved within an agreed timeframe.

· Financially & commercially the contract was significantly losing money however this was only due to the situational context. 

· Conclude the transition the contract, restructure and finalise the onboarding of the wider team. 

Solution:

· Undertake listening groups with all customers to develop an understanding of frustrations, needs, risks and to allow the customer to feel heard. 

· Introduce a communication structure that would cover the UK and NI contract team.

· Hold formal one-to-one sessions with account leadership and express the importance of their doing the same with their teams. 

· Appraise in detail every area of the contracts and its current performance. Develop a detailed strategic improvement plan on which targets and improvements will be measured and communicated by priority.  

· Identify resources and people necessary to executing the plan. 

· Communicate the plan and begin implementation. 

· Develop culture of empowerment and learning from mistakes.

· Running workshops to introduce improved ways of working that supported the overall change with immediate impact driving margin improvement, cost control and operational improvements.  

· Regularly measure improvement, adjust the plan and the strategy, and ensure all stakeholders are kept informed but also gain feedback. 

· Celebrate success and understand failings to retain buy-in from the change leadership team.

Outcome: Implementing the improvement strategy enabled the contract to become complete success. All areas saw detailed and sustainable improvement specifically around margin enhancement (2.4% to 8.3%), revenue growth (Increase by 34%) and statutory compliance (from 64% to 98%) having a wider ranging impact that also resulted in a reduction in attrition (3.4% down from over 15%), an increase in those wishing to join the contract, customer satisfaction returning and profitability reaching an above expected position where the contract was one of the most profitable within the group. This was further endorsed by a significant increase in services, buildings to serve and contract retention to a greater extent that was originally awarded. 

Whilst the end position was one of success there were at times significant impacts and setbacks, which had to be taken into account and at the outset were unforeseen. Resilience was tested within the first 6 months of the change where progress was primarily in the back of house function, processes, and procedures, which to the client went unnoticed and as such progress was not apparent without further communication. The impact of BREXIT and COVID upon the strategy was also something that had to be understood as situations unfolded. The contract was extended by a further 18 months and served as the basis for future contract awards in the Public Sector Government Sector. 

Setting: Pressures within virtually every market continue to be felt. Inflation, materials, cost of living and talent attraction and retention continue to be a number of real challenges faced by most organisations. These pressures manifest themselves in a number of ways of which one is the need to reduce operating cost. This was the case for a Hard Services provider to a very prominent UK&I retailer.

Situation: As part of annual budget process, the customer had made a request for the provider to identify opportunities that equated to an annualised 8-10% cost saving. The contract was in a mature position and had already addressed areas where efficiencies could be made. My role was to lead the project to identify savings opportunities, determine their budget value and scale it against complexity and then to coordinate a team to fully evaluate each opportunity in turn considering impacts, risks, level of change required and any dependencies or interdependent activities. 

Constraints

· The level of cost reduction required.

· Mature contract where efficiencies had already been achieved.

· Timescales

· Identifying opportunities that had minimal impact or change to service. 

· Scale and time impact on those members of the existing team in supporting the project.

· Downward pressure on the customer to generate savings.

· Service Provider facing its own cost challenges (salary costs, fuel, inflation etc). 

Enablers

· A skilled and knowledgeable team well versed in this challenge.

· External consultant support in leading / coordinating the initiative who which the customer has faith in.

· Strong commitment to work with the customer on the challenge.

· Team diversity created diverse approaches and initial opportunities.  

Needs

· Identify savings that equate to between 8-10% annualised saving. 

· Maintain the current service levels.

· Limit impact to operating margin of Service Provider. 

· Consider further initiatives of innovation to leverage cost reductions. 

· Achieve the agreed level of change and saving within the agreed timescale. Saving is a full-year saving. 

· No further reduction in headcount of front-line operational staff. 

Solution

· Hold joint “brainstorming” sessions with all departmental leads to cultivate fresh thinking around opportunities. 

· Collate all ideas into a benefit “v” Complexity matrix to categorise quick wins, low complexity but high benefit. 

· Categorise opportunities and assign to relevant working parties to thoroughly explore along with measuring risk, impact, and likely client appetite to the initiative. 

· Explore cost benefits of introducing applicable innovation / technology. 

· Hold further joint working sessions to check and challenge assumptions and commercial benefits. Ensure that a cost reduction or opportunity in one area doesn’t result in an unforeseen cost increase or risk in other areas. IE cost reduction initiative has the opposite effect. 

· Compile, categorise and priorities opportunities.

Outcome – A difficult situation and one that did not yield the total saving expressed. However, the level of saving achieved, new ways of working and innovation introduced was a significant success. An overall saving of 6% was achieved under which this was a fully tangible saving and not one that would not only meet the criteria set out by the customer but did not detract from the brand of either the Service Provider or customer. In such situations it is important to truly measure impact and risk to all parties as lowering service to a degraded level, despite acceptance can carry brand damaging implications. 

The process strengthened the relationship with the customer who, through engagement with the process at various touch points understood the lengths that the Service Provider was going to in achieving the goal. The process also raised “cost avoidance” opportunities, which had not previously been considered and ways in which the customer could address behaviours within their business that would in turn avoid cost being incurred. 

Setting: Acting as the operational lead in support of the inhouse Business Development team in bidding for additional Public Sector Hubs with a projected revenue of £50m (contract term). Delivering a mixed Integrated FM service across the UK. 

Situation: As part of an ongoing piece of work, there was an opportunity to extend and grow the existing arrangement with the Public Sector portfolio. This was an important opportunity and not only for that of growth. These locations were new Hub locations, that had been designed to provide new, modern, and adaptive workplaces for Civil Servants. Winning these locations would send a clear message to the market about our solution and capability. 

There was a requirement to support bids operationally and to collaborate on the design of the service solution and target operating model so that the solution was effective and viable (operationally and commercially) in the event of award. I supported the solutioning of the bid through its various stages and would lead the team in implementation. 

Constraints: 

· Timescales.

· Security Clearances for all staff.

· Information and accuracy of base data provided by the incumbents. 

· Ensuring that current operational and commercial experiences are understood, but not to detrimentally influence the bid. Manage the risk, reward, appetite scenario internally. 

· CCS Framework Cost Structure.

Enablers

· Robust bid, BD, and Sales team. 

· Existing knowledge and good existing client relationship and proven service delivery. 

· Early engagement by client on solutioning pre-RFI. 

· Geographically positive locations. 

Needs

· Provide a compelling solution and price that lands the award balancing cost, quality and risk. 

· Organic growth with existing customer and block competition entering the space.

· Secures a longer relationship on new frameworks. 

· Proof of solution, quality, and price combination, which serves future bid success.

Solution

· Collaborative approach between operational lead, sales and bid team in the approach to the service solution.

· Strong governance and framework around meetings to develop solution.

· Thorough review of scope, questions, and clarification questions by all parties. 

· Consistent and dedicated approach by those within the bid solution team, which enabled a strong team approach to what was a challenging and complex bid. 

· Using Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) for targeted and specific areas of the bid, which increases its likelihood of success. 

· Develop a realistic quality solution that will deliver operationally and commercially. 

· Early identification and management of risk.

Outcome

· The bid was successful and was followed by the award of all services for all locations. Post award presented challenges, which had been identified pre-tender around mobilisation timescales, levels of clearance and anomalies identified within TUPE data. However, through early identification and transparent communication and management with the client, appreciation of risks and the ability to mitigate made the overall process a complete success. Managing expectations realistically, robustly, and transparently was key and whilst a Public Sector bid, the approach could easily be mapped to all such opportunities. 

Setting: Working jointly with a Global Service Provider and prominent retail brand to address issues with service and compliance to a specific asset group and business function where the service is largely delivered and reliant on 10 different national subcontractors providing Lift & Escalator services. 

Situation: Currently the service provision to the customer and the performance of compliance activities are below an acceptable standard, which has been formally registered by the customer. The overall service is managed by a dedicated team within the service providers business with the main technical work subcontracted. A high density of mixed, aged, and complex assets brings a level of complexity and a high volume of activities of which all must be appropriately documented and shared with insurers and external validating bodies. 

Constraints:

· Age, condition, and diversity within the asset category making a “one size fits all” approach unlikely and difficult. 

· Customers frustration and demand for immediate improvement in service level.

· Failing performance has induced high levels of staff attrition, which in turn has compounded poor service delivery. 

· A highly technical specialist field and type of asset. 

· Current processes and procedures not aligned to support service delivery or compliance. 

· Prior attempts and quick fixes have not worked and compounded the issue. 

· Disparate team with no means of resilience for periods of absence. 

· A reactive culture that lacks future planning or insight. 

Enablers:

· External consultant appointed to develop the solution to address performance and compliance.

· Recent talent appointed to lead the existing function from outside the business.

· Buy in and backing of the Service Provider and Customer to support the changes required. 

Needs:

· To ensure that all time related defects are completed within their allotted timescale of 85% or greater within any one given month. 

· To ensure that the up time of the complete asset portfolio is above 98.5% daily.

·  Manage and prioritise activities and risk mitigation where the asset may be that of a single asset for that store, which in the event of failure or prolonged down time would impact trading. 

· Provide robust and transparent governance and communication on all related occurrences in real time. 

· Develop appropriate processes and procedure that safeguard compliance and service delivery. 

· As best as possible make changes cost neutral if not immediately but long term. 

Solution:

· Begin by observing and understanding the current processes and service level to the customer.

· Identify underlying issues on a cause-and-effect type approach.  

· Through understanding the constituent parts of the process and service delivery that were failing a strategic improvement plan could be compiled.

· By agreement with the Service Provider the strategic improvement plan was communicated to the customer in a way that gave confidence around understanding the causes and the prescription of the solution in a time bound approach based on priority. 

· Actions were addressed in an order to establish quick wins, demonstrate immediate improvement, and gain confidence and buy in from all Stakeholders. 

· A through review of capability, systems and resources was undertaken, which would lead to changes with the service delivery team. 

· Review of service agreements with all Subcontractors undertaken and the introduction of formal KPI’s that would make service delivery measured and consistent. 

· Exit of some external arrangements and relationships that were not adding value but attracting cost.  

· Coach and mentor team in driving service performance and accountability with Subcontractors. 

Outcome

Whilst the pressure was such that there was an immediate need for improvement it was vital to understand the root cause of the factors that were integral to the failure in service and compliance. Initially this exacerbated the customer, who was expecting immediate improvements and results, however, through transparent and robust engagement it was appreciated that there was a phase of due-diligence and assessment needed prior to any change. 

What was very clear was that this was an Iceberg type scenario and the issues being observed on the surface were minimal in relation to the underlying cause. A high-level summary of the major steps and actions executed to bring around the change were the restructuring of the team, increase in team size, resilience, and talent, exiting certain costly agreements, focus on self-delivery and having robust and accountable service level agreements in place with Subcontractors that mirrored the service expectation of the customer. 

The overall project was a success seeing service levels exceeding that of the customers expectations on a consistent basis. Restructuring the team and the introduction of additional staff increased job satisfaction, resilience whilst reducing staff attrition. On conclusion of the change programme the customer feedback was “service levels and compliance haven’t been this good in the last 5 years”. 

The service is now a proactive one where 70% of time goes into planning and 30% executing along with advising the customer on trends, data and areas of innovation and investment.