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EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO MAKE GOOD OPERATIONAL DECISIONS
The railway is run by its people. GBR’ s success will depend on whether staff at every level are empowered and equipped to act in the interests of customers.
The networked nature of the railway means local delivery teams need to be able to make decisions that support the whole railway. The Secretary of State has emphasised that collective ownership must reach“ right down to the station floor”, with more decisions made close to passengers by staff trusted to act when something goes wrong.
There is already evidence of improvement within Integrated Railways, where closer working between track and train is beginning to break down silos. The intent of the GBR Academy is to create the tracktrain thinking needed among staff at all levels.
The complexity of multi-operator routes provides an additional challenge. Much of the network is by its very nature multi-operator. In control rooms, in train planning centres and at major interchange stations, staff must balance the needs of different passengers, freight, GBR services and non-GBR operators. While progress is being made to strengthen thinking across the track-train divide, we must also help staff to think across operator boundaries.
The cultural change required here should not be underestimated. The era of privatisation encouraged the making of decisions in the best interest of individual organisations, and the customers of those individual organisations, rather than the railway as a whole. Many railway staff have spent their whole careers within the fragmented structures of privatisation and may not have experience of the full operational consequences of decisions across the track-train divide and in other parts of the system.
During our research we sought lessons from the last period when the UK railway had an integrated structure. Senior figures described a system where front-line teams had a better understanding of the trade-offs and consequences of their decisions across the track and train boundary and across the wider network. They described teams who were confident to take operational decisions in the interests of the full range of customers. They emphasised the importance of strong leadership and the setting of clear expectations.
Doing so created an environment where there was a high degree of trust between the multiple teams involved in operating the railway. Senior leaders were rarely called upon to intervene in day-to-day operational matters.
Senior leaders in the industry today have set out their intent and the direction of travel for GBR. This provides the foundation for setting clear expectations to front-line teams. There is undoubtedly enthusiasm at the front-line to make the railway deliver for customers. Releasing the enthusiastic front-line to really deliver relies on a culture that creates trust and a genuine feeling of empowerment.
Front-line teams need to feel able to push the boundaries in order to deliver for customers. Without this, there is a risk that management teams continue to focus on the priorities of their immediate organisation. Representatives of non- GBR sectors highlighted the risk that blame culture could simply shift to blaming non-GBR operators.
An essential element of any framework must be development of customer-focused thinking. The era of privatisation undoubtedly saw significant progress in this area, and these skills should be harnessed in the creation of GBR, without staff being hampered by a blame culture which prevents them doing the right thing.
Creating a GBR workforce which delivers a consistent service under the GBR brand and is
12 CIRO’ s Operational Agenda for Great British Railways