Project Resources

To successfully take on an ERP system, an organisation needs to change its "Corporate Culture". Staff will need to change their focus from their own job, to the whole organisation. What they do in their area will now impact in places they may never have envisaged. In addition the timeframe in which the change is ultimately made also challenges the business to move in a few days from a state where one week you can bend all the rules and get away with it to next week the system will not let you.

To achieve this goal requires change professionals to deliver an intensive program of training, education, communication and stakeholder management activities to assist the business end users, clients and vendors to be ready for, cope with, sustain and embed the implementation. None of this is easy and requires a protracted and focused Change Management approach. Over the last three years Shape Consulting has been involved in the successful implementation of ERP systems in a range of organisations. Through the application of a “business led” philosophy and a structured change methodology we have partnered with a range of IT vendors to ensure success in this challenging area.

Our consulting approach has engaged our clients in an effective change program that not only prepares their organisation for the myriad of changes but also provides the change professionals required to take their business forward.

Collaborative Project Consulting

Our client was awarded a nationally significant project by an owner which they had not previously delivered works for. The client’s corporate objective was to build the confidence and trust with the owner as they possessed a large pipeline of future work. As a traditional delivery construction contract, the first weeks of the project showed all the typical signs of two opposing cultures; resulting in a stream of contractual allegations and disagreements. At this stage we were bought in to assist. The challenge was not just to overcome some of the recent issues, but to build trust, relationships and pride in the project.

The strategy was developed with more than 15 different stakeholders. A two-pronged approach was implemented; one focussing on the client relationship, the other focussing on development of high performance strategies to ensure that the project delivery occurred in a way which met client expectations. One of the first hurdles was to ensure that the client and his team bought into the envisaged approach. As a result, our role was to support the Project Manager, Leadership Team and Steering Committee, establish the delivery framework, facilitate the relationship management approach and build the high performance team. Activities and approaches were customised to suit the idiosyncrasies of the client’s availability, day and night shift staff, and the corporate delivery requirements of our client.

Our client was so confident in the developed approach that they have packaged this approach to market and repeat for future traditional delivery projects.

High Performance Teams

In this Program Alliance team, our brief was to deliver coaching and facilitation services that would support the development of a High Performance Team. On appointment to the project, we started by engaging with the Alliance Program Manager and the Management Team to undertake a current state assessment of the organisational, operational and commercial context. This led to the development of a High Performance Plan that would support the performance outcomes of the team.

Within 3 months we witnessed the team grow from a collection of organisations with muddled operations and diverging outlooks to a team with a clearly defined vision and solid governance structure. The result of this change was a boost in team commitment, morale, reduced project turnover and improved day-to-day operations. During the following three months, the efforts of the High Performance Plan allowed the team to operate smarter across the various projects to ensure the Alliance capitalised on the learnings and opportunities present between projects. This resulted in the award of a further component of work from the Program Owner that was not initially included as one of the projects within the Alliance.

Our efforts then moved to focus on growing the leaders to enhance the internal capability and capacity of the team. We also supported front line staff by providing; individual support and coaching to foremen and supervisors, lessons learnt between projects, delivery process development, internal communications and safety culture initiatives. These strategies have enabled each Project Manager to deliver results they can be proud of. To date, every project we have worked with which has embraced a “High Performance Team” commitment has delivered on or below cost and within 5% of the time requirements.

Strategy

We partner with our clients to make principle level strategic choices, develop strategy maps and scorecards, emphasising drivers and lead indicators. Our long term partnering results in management ownership for the strategic outcomes. Invariably this results capability building, culture change, systems and processes alignment. It is about partnering and making an effective process available which ensures strategic alignment and the capability transfer to lead the organisation into the future.

Project Bid & Selection Preparation

Our client’s goal was to be awarded an Alliance Project in a resource-rich market where they had little recent track record of project delivery in the local area. The individuals selected for the team had the right track record and experience, but bore behavioural baggage that had prevented them from being successful in previous bids. The strategy employed was to actively engage the team so they were the main drivers and greatest contributors during the process. The Alliance partners were committed to support the team with “everything they have got” to make the process a success. Our role was to take the Alliance team on a journey including; the development of strategies to expedite the team forming and norming processes, coaching individual behaviours, working with cross-cultural issues and forging the environment that brings out the best in the team. The process included the following initiatives:

• Strategy sessions with the board prior to RFP release
• Implementation of a unique Organisational Design process to develop a suitable team structure and selection of team members
• Support in reviewing submission content to ensure it reflects a united front with a smart team development philosophy
• Facilitation and coaching prior to submission development, interviews, team workshops and commercial alignment sessions
• Leveraging on the partnerships to provide complimentary services that address specific needs and provide unique opportunities

By having the right people, the right strategy and an integrated culture, the team was successfully awarded the project.

Talent Stream

Mining & Engineering

Talent streaming is about focussing your HR practices and processes on the streams of talent that will be most beneficial for your future success. Based on our research, the most effective streams include those areas where the time required to effectively replace like for like skills is over the longer term. Within the mining and engineering industries this time frame can be as long as 7 years. The investment in approaches to manage talent in this industry has a lasting benefit to organisation based on the costs associated with unwanted turnover.

Information Technology

The war for talent is highly evident in the higher skill levels within the information technology industry. The Talent Streaming approach is proving highly valuable for organisations focused on long term success.

Electrical Engineering

“Why don’t they stay” – this quote from one of our foundation clients for Talent Streaming related to the new recruits they had been spending a lot of time, energy and money attracting to their organisation. By using the Talent Streaming approach and focussing on the needs of generation ‘y’ the retention of staff has increased with the added benefit of creating a long term view of talent management and succession planning.

Change Frameworks

One of our clients engaged Shape Consulting to develop and implement and Organisational Change Management (OCM) Framework to be used across all IT Projects run out of the Project Management Office (PMO). The Framework was developed over 6 months.

The Framework included a structured methodology aligned with PMBOK and the project management methodology, was systematised with soft and hard-copy process manuals and templates, and resourced with appropriate positions to deploy the framework across all projects.

The OCM Framework was approved by the business and was successfully deployed and run by Shape Consulting over another 6 months. During the last 3 months of the deployment phase the Framework was handed over to the client and operationalised in the business. One year after handover the Framework continues to be used and add value across all IT Projects run out of the PMO.

Operational Reviews

A large client working in a regulated industry recently encountered significant changes to its budget allocations to perform vital work for its customers. This, coupled with changing regulations and customer expectations, meant the organisation required more clarity on how the localised practices across the state would be impacted. As part of a joint initiative across the business, our brief was to determine if there was a Case for Change for current operational practices. This included highlighting what were the greatest factors pushing for a change and what may cause resistance.
This undertaking included:

• Detailed desktop audits of business functions, organisational documentation, regulatory submissions, financial statements, customer experience surveys and other consultancies reviews.
• Face-to-Face interviews across the state.
• Workshops with senior management
• Engagement of stakeholders at multiple levels.
• Development of a balanced and detailed report for senior management decision making.

The activity was such a success that we have been requested to investigate alternative business models and global best practice to enhance the organisations ability to deliver its role efficiently and effectively

Workshop Facilitation

At Shape Consulting we relish the opportunity to facilitate a wide variety of teams and organisations to achieve the outcomes that will help shape their success. Our consultants have a strong track record of delivering engaging and purposeful workshops with the ultimate outcomes in mind. Examples include:

• Team establishment for a construction team
• Annual business planning for a shared services agency
• Developing a constructive culture in a special projects team
• Leadership development for a mining organisation
• Strategic planning for a utilities organisation
• Future visioning and alignment for an engineering group
• Coaching for a youth environmental group
• Organisational design and roles for a disaster recovery group

In all of these engagements we continue to provide the process, support, insight and energy to allow the participants to reach the outcomes desired.

Change Tracking

A client was working with a consultant on a major SAP implementation. The client retained responsibility for the change-management component, but the consultant saw clear signs the business had not recognised the scale of the challenge and was not preparing effectively for the change. Another major change program was already underway, and the consultant suspected the client did not have the capacity to do both at the same time. Despite discussions about this situation, the client was not taking necessary action. The ChangeTracking database was used to model a typical outcome of such a scenario. This allowed the leadership team to have informed discussions, based on tangible evidence from the experience of others, about the risk of performance failures if key areas were not addressed.

A highly targeted ChangeTracking cycle was also conducted with key audiences. Areas were identified (e.g.,leadership, resources and communication) where this organisation needed to take action if it was to absorb the planned level of change. During interactive workshop sessions the findings were reviewed and a tangible action plan created. Tough decisions were made to set the program up for success and take required actions. ChangeTracking was used across the longer-term to monitor the success of the implementation.

Business Planning

Our client requested our services to assist in the development and planning of specific actionable objectives for their Business Process and Solutions unit.

A series of workshops was conducted aligning multiple business units to the newly Business Process and Solutions plan. This allowed for increased awareness, clarity, and transparency across the business on what the Business Process and Solutions team were there to provide. Through these discussions we were able to successfully enable the client to produce actions for executing a new Business Process and Solutions plan that would provide the overall business the most amount of value. Once the plan was established, monitoring of the actions and linking them to the developed agreements allowed us to support and sustain the performance within the company. Further workshops with process owners and the provision of strategic advice ensured the successful rollout and execution of the client’s Business Process and Solutions plans.

Change Expertise

Our client engaged our change expertise to enable a successful transition to their new program management approach for the delivery of ICT projects. Two of their desired approaches were considered to have a large change impact on their people and structure. Our client requested structural options for the delivery of the program. We were able to determine the key success factors through both developing a strong understanding of the client’s needs and not shying for the challenging conversations. Key stakeholders were interviewed and desk top audits conducted to determine the effects of different change frameworks

We successfully developed an integrated a program and portfolio change management approach that was fit for the client. This was accompanied by a tailored made suite of change management tools. Throughout the project, we focused on aligning both the strategic and cultural needs of the organisation to the change management frameworks and resourcing. This developed a strong alliance between the project management team and the parties most impacted.

Benefits Realisation

Our client engaged us to provide a Change manager for an ERP implementation of a major Mincom IT Solution throughout two separate organisations in tandem.

The benefits realised through this project were evident with the successful implementation and adoption of the Mincom solution. In order to realise this success, the development, implementation and outworking of a business readiness program was implemented across multiple business streams within both organisations enabling a smooth transition from the old to new state. The program also provided early awareness and mitigation of all planned major impacts.

During the transition period, we formed an integral part of the operational committee. This allowed us to provide ongoing operational support, monitoring the continued adoption of the model and managing key interfaces between external customers and the project team. This allowed us to achieve a seamless change to the new systems.

Project Portfolio Capability

Shape Consulting was contracted by a mining organisation to conduct an Organisational Cultural Inventory (Human Synergistics). While buoyant, the mining industry is a competitive market and the organisation wanted to understand:

• What does our current culture look like?
• Is this supporting or hindering our strategic vision and objectives?
• How does this affect the satisfaction of our employees?

As highly experienced in working with organisations to align culture with strategy, Shape Consulting applied the Organisational Cultural Inventory. This is a powerful instrument that identifies current behavioural norms and sets prescriptions for successful change management. By looking at how we can achieve a more constructive culture that pursues challenging goals, being receptive to change, encouraging growth and development and pursing a one team approach.

This activity was so successful that the organisation has enlisted Shape Consulting to drive a 5 year change effort towards a more constructive and effective business. This includes leadership development, one-on-one coaching, senior executive mentoring and the management of the change programme.

Embedded Team Performance Management

As an “Facilitator and Coach” engaged by a major construction alliance, we are on the ground supporting the Alliance through the delivery of the programme of works. As an embedded consultant, we are able to gain a deep perspective on the issues effecting the organisations, the stakeholder’s motivations, and the opportunities within the team to generate solutions. We have worked closely with the team to develop strategies that are both bespoke to this project’s context whilst retaining our connection to industry best practice. Activities include:

• Program and project organisational design
• One-on-one coaching throughout the team
• Innovations and obstacles workshops
• Internal communication audits
• On-going multi-disciplinary team interviews and report findings
• Project Team establishment and chartering workshops
• Systems-culture reviews and workshops
• Operational enhancements to project delivery
• Management Team workshops
• Meeting effectiveness reviews
• Project specific HR process implementation and enhancements

By pursing creating team integration, aligned delivery, and leadership enrichment the alliance has been able to constantly adapt to an ever changing external context. By equipping the alliance, teams and individual members with the tools and space to focus their energy they have been able to achieve or exceed every milestone.

Project Coaching and Facilitation

We have learnt that Peak Performance Functioning is enabled when a team can truly determine the outcomes that are “ultimate” for the project given its individual the characteristics, context and constraints. It is then fundamental to align the commercial, organisational and operational environment to align with these ultimate outcomes.

We have successfully enabled, enriched and equipped teams to meet their ultimate project objectives. To achieve this we engage in three touch points during collaborative project delivery to maximise the performance of project teams:

 

• Commercial framework: We work with the team to establish the drivers that create the foundation for decisions

• Organisational environment: We unlock the potential of individuals & teams as an integrated entity

• Operational delivery: We enhance potential through streamlining project flows, structures and processes

This is an example of how we often apply the “3 touch point” approach as we during the early phases:

• Commercial Framework: Development of the governance structure, issue resolution process, driver alignment and governance monitoring process. Project Manager coaching that enables ‘outliving’ of the governance structure.

• Organisational Environment: Identify and communicate the project objectives. Translate these to specific project goals. Make these meaningful to project.

• Operational Delivery: Streamline the organisational structure. Operationalisation of the project objectives. Support effective planning and review process commencement for functional teams and interdisciplinary forums.