Welcome to the 8 Questions, where we ask senior figures in the sector the questions every business leader and ambitious professional wants answered. In this edition, Keith Hanshaw, Managing Director at the Project Centre, is asked about effective employee engagement, what leaders need to be thinking about now and much more.
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The judges' commented on the entry:
"The judges were impressed with the wide range of initiatives at Project Centre from equality and inclusion to learning and development opportunities focussed on the long term. Project Centre has used a wide range of metrics in its work and has received positive feedback from its employees. Project Centre has also shown a strong commitment to Diversity & Inclusion and has introduced a number of specific initiatives into the company to support, embed and celebrate diversity."
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To really listen and act on feedback. At Project Centre we recognise our greatest strength is the people we employ and actively engage and listen to staff to enhance our culture, diversity, and inclusion, and ensure that staff feel happy, supported and challenged. There is no point in asking for feedback unless you are going to do something with that information. We have prioritised actions, got staff involved and report back on our actions regularly.
That anything is possible. We have changed the diversity of Project Centre in a short period of time, particularly at the senior leadership level, where it is important to be representative not only for staff but also for ideas.
There is still a lot of work to be done, culture change can take a long time and we are just at the start. We’re keen to make changes fast but accepting that it takes a long time is part of the process and allows for everyone to be brought onboard from graduates up to directors. You also can’t make these sorts of changes alone, you need buy in, advocacy and leadership from your management team.
There may be a lot that you want to improve but by focusing on a couple of areas at a time (that have been chosen by staff) allows you to make effective changes that have a lasting impact. Our staff survey continues to drive what we change or implement but we have now opened up other avenues for feedback so there are more opportunities for staff to engage.
Listening to staff and acting on their feedback. Don’t play lip service, do what you say you will do.
Our staff surveys provided us with baseline and ongoing data to monitor trends and adjust our strategy accordingly. Feedback from these influenced the projects we implemented. We’ve seen an increase in our target areas including happiness from 80% April 2019 to 92% February 2021 showing that the interventions we implemented are working.
In addition, by opening up more avenues of communication through our three internal groups we have regular two-way feedback, which ensures messages and actions are cascaded and elevated across the company.
In terms of growing talent, we set ourselves a benchmark and have exceeded expectations. Our initiatives have seen eight employees sponsored on part-time degree/masters courses and a further three on BTEC. It is the fifth year of our Graduate scheme, of which 29 out of 38 are still working with us. We have 18 mentees in the Leadership Team Mentoring Programme and we are about to start our second cohort with 20. We have seen 47 members of staff rewarded and recognised with promotions since 2019.
In 2020, we also retained our Investors in People (IiP) Platinum Award, as part of Marston Holdings. This places us in the top 2% of the nearly 9,000 companies that have an IiP accreditation. This is testament to the recent hard work and clear evidence we provided that showed we put people at the heart of decision making, in line with our values and vision.
Encouragement and by repeating the same messages. Buy-in doesn’t happen quickly so persistence is key. We have sustained engagement by delivering on what we say we will and building trust.
It is critical to everything we do and the key to our success. We are in a highly competitive market, we need to stand out from our competitors, and we need to treat our people better than other companies to retain and recruit, and therefore grow.
Gone are the days when it was an employer’s market, it is now an employee’s market. You now have to sell your company to existing and potential employees, so you have to standalone from your competitors. Expectations around flexible working and terms and conditions have changed, and we must all adapt so that employees’ needs are met and are able to enjoy a healthy work life balance.
It is also vital that leaders create and develop a more diverse workforce. As a white middle aged man myself I am a typical employee of the industry. You look round at the CIHT luncheon and you can’t help but notice that it is full of people like me and it’s embarrassing. We have a responsibility to support more women and ethnic minorities into engineering and other STEM industries. This is why I am determined to change it where I can, in Project Centre.
Our submission was not about the pandemic it was about good practice. All of the measures we implemented will be continuing, with further monitoring and evaluation. We will also build upon what we have delivered so far with more initiatives based on our people’s feedback.
Keith is an accomplished leader in operation and strategic management. He is currently Managing Director of Project Centre and Client Services Director for Transportation at Marston Holdings responsible for the growth of the company’s transportation and environment sector, which includes NSL civil parking enforcement, business process and outsourcing, checking, Traffic Management Act debt, Videalert sales, air quality enforcement and the environment, as well as business development and strategic accounts.
Previously Keith worked in Local Government for over 25 years, he was a Director responsible for over 250 staff across areas of service delivery and strategic activity with experience of direct budgetary control of over £40million per annum. Keith’s leadership and drive skills led him to Chair the Six Olympic Host Borough Multi-area agreement, driv¬ing the group to securing £180 million over three years for the Olympic fringe.
Project Centre is a leading design, engineering and landscape architecture consultancy whose highly talented people are passionate about creating places that are attractive, innovative, inclusive, sustainable and safe.
www.marstonholdings.co.uk/projectcentre
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the CIHT or its members. Neither the CIHT nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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