CHAPTER 25 SITE

A prestigious private members’ club has been using 31Practices since 2010. In this particular case, the organization had not articulated its values so this needed to be the starting point. A workshop was facilitated with the leadership team to re affirm the essence of the club and the expectations of all stakeholders, and to create a service promise. Against this backdrop, the leadership team worked through a process to explore, articulate and define the core values of the organization.

The proposed values were presented to the next level (less senior) of management for discussion and were subsequently approved by the chief executive and board of directors.

Following this, a series of high-energy, short workshops were delivered for all members of staff. The limited time available was driven by the operational needs of the business but, as so often when there is a restriction on resources, innovation flourished. As a result, a highly valuable evolution of the 31Practices process was created. As with previous organizations, the workshops were delivered to a mixed audience of function and hierarchy. These were repeated throughout the day to enable as many employees to attend as possible. Because of the short amount of time available, it was critical to engage the audience in a high-tempo style so the approach was based on metaphors of the organization’s values with time restrictions to create urgency and speed. This was a great success and has subsequently become an integral part of the 31Practices workshops to generate the best quality output. The whole process was a great example of the Purpose and Identify stages covered in Chapters 5 and 6.

“The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are going.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.¹

Champions were then identified at an operational level to drive the programme forward and a workshop was conducted with this group to equip them with some specific skills for the role focused on leadership qualities and sharing an understanding of how to manage different responses to the initiative.

Another process development in the same client organization was in the areas of performance review: quarterly telephone calls with the senior leadership team were scheduled to review successes, challenges, next steps and support required. A formal annual review visit also takes place, consisting of one-to-one interviews with employees and customers, a group session with the Champions, some desktop review and a session with the Leadership team. An annual review of the 31Practices considers whether they are still relevant or if any changes should be made. The review process supports and reinforces the 31Practices approach as a “journey”. The review is wide-ranging, which enables a deeper understanding of successes and challenges and the actions that need to be taken to move forward.

“Progress is not accomplished in one stage.”

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables²

In February 2013, the club was re-assessed for Investors In People and were congratulated on their achievements over the past three years since the last assessment, which were noted as “very significant”.

“When we adopted 31Practices, I wanted a scheme that staff at every level could create and put into practice every day. The effect was instantaneous and provided a real step change in the consistency and pride of our service delivery across all sections of the Club. We received great feedback from Members and most importantly a real morale boost for staff knowing that their efforts were being better recognised by each other as well as Members. Our Investors in People accreditation review hit our highest score to date and it was no coincidence, in my opinion, that our bottom line profit rose by 25% over two years as well!” Marc Newey, Chief Executive, Roehampton Club