SERVICES
Proven Results
ALLIANCING
Numerous companies and organisations have been working in partnership, have developed or participated in integrated supply chains and have experienced successful collaborative working resulting in performance improvement. Significant numbers have however found that relationships have faltered, benefit has not been universally achieved, shared or sustained and many of the problems they hoped would be overcome have persisted. A number of organisations have turned to alliancing and for most this is a very different way of working.
IPInitiatives has been at the forefront of introducing alliancing to construction activity. Having been influenced by the development of alliancing from its birth in the oil and gas industry in the 1980’s and supported early application in the infrastructure sector, particularly the water industry, IPInitiatives is well placed to assist clients in the adoption of alliancing or in repositioning client organisations and their delivery teams to prepare for future adoption.
The principle of alliancing is that parties enter into a cooperative form of contract to align their commercial interests and jointly manage risk. IPInitiatives has been developing a new model alliance contract since 2008 that has taken this a step further, embedding the client as an equal partner in the alliance that is driven by a focus both on opportunity and risk, with participation extended to cover the wider supply chain, and finally through the inclusion of a new integrated project insurance product that covers the collective interests of the entire alliance.
This fundamentally changes the nature of the alliance, allowing it to be formed much earlier and leading to a much deeper level of ownership and commitment. It also radically improves protections for all alliance partners, dispensing with the need for professional indemnity insurance and the blame culture that goes with it and instead shifting to outcome based incentives and protections including inherent defects and a unique cost overrun cover as part of the insurances.
IPInitiatives has been trialling alliancing since 2011 and having been explored on some £90m of projects, we now have a proven method that is transforming construction performance, producing a level of achievement that has both surprised and delighted its clients and project participants.
Integrated Project Insurance, IPI, is one of the 3 new models of procurement and delivery listed in the government construction strategy initially for 2016 and subsequently for 2023 and is the first model in a new generation called Insurance Backed Alliancing (IBA). IPInitiatives owns this delivery model that includes the novel Integrated Project Insurance product that gave the model its name. The IPI Model is available to clients who are ready to adopt the radical changes required to achieve the superior performance and outcomes on offer.
COACHING AND MENTORING
Most individuals, teams and organisations find it extremely difficult to continually perform at a high level and to further improve, without external assistance.
Higher performance usually means tapping into unlocked potential often through awareness of impact, both positive and negative, on the success and wellbeing of others. This leads to a greater understanding of strengths and weaknesses and provides targets for improvement. Identifying and addressing these targets from within is very difficult and individual, team and organisational blind spots are extremely common.
Fortunately, good external consultants with the relevant experience and training find this identification much easier to achieve and are able to coach the necessary performance improvements and provide holistic development mentoring over the longer term.
The IPInitatives team of experienced construction professionals possesses this essential background having;
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led operational teams at senior levels in public and private sector organisations and companies from SME to large corporations
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developed, coached and mentored internal and external people and teams, including leadership development and succession
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benefitted from extensive personal development including behavioural coaching and mentoring training
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developed high performance project teams from formation to completion
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managed complex projects and coached others to do the same, and
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applied a range of stocktake, profiling, assessment and development tools and created new tools
Whilst many consultants offer a similar range of experiences, few have been so imbedded in and committed to construction industry performance improvement, and whilst these skills are undoubtedly transferable the learnings are often more tangible when delivered by people who are both expert and successful.
In a 5 year period we coached and mentored over 400 people, either individually or as part of integrated teams, with outstanding results as our testimonials show.
CHANGE FACILITATION
Whatever change is being sought, it is difficult to achieve whilst trying to get the job done, especially if it involves modifying behaviours. External facilitation provides a third-party perspective to keep pushing the boundaries and prevent the gentle slide back into “business as usual” that often undermines transformation.
This is particularly true when a new team is formed, as just putting a group of people together and expecting them to start performing will inevitably lead to disappointment. Teams need time to understand their own dynamics and to buy into a shared vision. With embedded facilitation they become a high performing team capable of extraordinary things, but even then, will need help to stay in the zone, especially when new members are brought on board.
In the construction industry far more people think they are doing Integrated Collaborative Working than actually are. A great many, if not the majority, are seeking to adopt a change at the periphery rather than embrace fundamental change that will truly unlock potential. As a result there remains widespread dissatisfaction with both the project journey and the outcome.
The reality is methods, processes, procedures and activities can always be improved - there is waste and inefficiency in everything. The question in most people’s minds is “is the time and effort required worth it?” It would be great to make a small change and get a big return for it and often incremental changes can progressively achieve significant benefit. However, sometimes the process is so badly broken, or at least has become unfit for the intended purpose, that only a radical overhaul is going to lead to any realistic and sustainable improvement. Working with the right initiative at the right time is the key to success.
At IPInitiatives we believe you can either leave it to others to create the world in which you live or you can seek to make it the kind of world you would prefer it to be. We believe in taking the initiative; we are all change agents who have already achieved significant transformation and are continually striving for more betterment.
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Even those who are successful need help to keep them on track from time to time or to assist in identifying the next improvement to be introduced. Having access to a third party to bounce ideas off, or benefit from the experiences of others who have already ‘done it’ and can help to identify a different path to amicable resolution, can be invaluable.
IPInitiatives is ready to help those who want to benefit from change, including deciding whether it should be short term adaptive change, specific problem identification and resolution or the adoption of our radical and ground breaking alliancing method the IPI Model.