On track with stakeholders

Once completed, Crossrail will change the way people travel around London by improving journey times, easing congestion and providing better connections.

The 14.8bn, 73-mile under- and over-ground railway line currently being constructed under the streets of London will undoubtedly deliver major benefits to the capital.

Inevitably a major development like this will cause disruption on some level. Andy and his team have been working hard to ensure that, as the construction phase of the programme continues, stakeholders are kept up to date and engaged on developments.

Andy Mitchell, programme director at Crossrail, is no stranger to managing stakeholders expectations on a complex programme. His most recent role was as project director for Network Rail's Thameslink programme..

He says: I was as well prepared as anyone could be to come to Crossrail. But of course the scale of this programme is unparalleled.

Here we have a lot of local concern. One thing that all of our neighbours, or stakeholders, at Crossrail have said to us is we really love what youre doing and we know that when this is completed well be in a great position because the value of our businesses and properties will be enhanced.

However, the common plea has been but we want to be there to enjoy it and we dont want to be in the dark or for our businesses to suffer in the process.

So how has Andy and his team addressed this?

Andy explains that often a stakeholders concern may be far from the reality. But that doesnt mean the concern ought to be left unaddressed, he says. One of the best if not the best way to manage stakeholder concerns and expectations is to take them on the journey with you.

Gathering support
On a project like Crossrail, the sheer volume of stakeholders means you have to gear up and take concerns very seriously, says Andy.

Addressing these and gathering strong support is a key element of any project.

At the front end, Andy and the team spent a significant amount of time identifying the different stakeholder groups and plotting them on what turned out to be a complex stakeholder map. He explains: We then began to assign activities to each group based on what it was they would want to see and what level of engagement they wanted.

A big part of it is being as available as anyone wants you to be to give that reassurance that we are here to listen. Weve got a hotline anyone can call, a helpdesk and a website and weve got these various forums. Id defy anyone to not get hold of someone at Crossrail.

He describes the helpdesk as a crucial step in providing transparency to stakeholders. Feedback from surveys Crossrail has undertaken with stakeholders who have contacted the helpdesk has been very positive.

Weve tried to understand what sort of customer service were providing, Andy says. In that regard we are like any other organisation. With any job of this scale people think of us as they would a supermarket. Youd expect John Lewis to answer you, so youd expect Crossrail to answer you.

Engaging the taxpayers is crucial, but these efforts needed to be replicated internally to ensure that all other stakeholders are engaged on the project.

This started at the very top, explains Andy. The chairman and chief executive of Crossrail attended high-level forums answering to the higher politics of London. This was a starting point to get the decision makers on board and calm any concerns they had.

The senior team at Crossrail also had to consult with officials from the many London boroughs where Crossrail would have an impact. This meant that the heads of planning, and other similar figures, were invited to a regular meeting so the Crossrail team could give them the updates they needed.

Andy adds: We made just as significant an effort with other stakeholders too from multi-millionaire property developers to the owners of a tiny caf on the corner.

Crossrail community
A good example of the detailed approach Crossrail has undertaken with its stakeholders comes in the form of a London resident who was unhappy with the disruption some of the work was causing as it was keeping her children awake.

This is a classic example where a project manager couldve said he or she has no choice, says Andy. However in this particular case it was agreed that work would be carried out during times when her children werent sleeping and thats the kind of stakeholder management and care thats often required.

If you want to deliver a project efficiently and successfully, its not just about being nice to people and your neighbours, theres a real practical element to this. If you consistently show people that you dont care or that youre not trying your best, there will come a time that it will go against you. So theres a good, practical, commercial rationale to getting this right.

Having project teams and contractors who have their own community representatives helps in this respect. Crossrails community relations colleagues work hard to ensure that the organisation is dealing with stakeholders in the necessary manner. It also helps to ensure that the project teams have contacts in each of the stakeholder groups.

Andy says: Its the same for community groups. We have some active and vocal public groups. We do whatever we can to make sure were satisfactorily addressing concerns at different levels. Its the only way to show stakeholders that they are getting attention and, most importantly, that they are genuinely being listened to.

The way the Crossrail team managed residents fears while drilling below their homes in the Barbican area of London is a good example of this.
Last September, Crossrail held a briefing for hundreds of Barbican residents to update them on 2014 tunnelling under the estate. A member of the audience, Jane Northcote, was so impressed, she shared her views in a personal blog using Crossrail as a how to example of stakeholder communication at its best.

She identified eight reasons as to why this kind of engagement worked well:

1. Key figures including the area director, head of geotechnics and site manager were present
2. The residents were presented with facts and figures
3. They were not patronised
4. They were shown illustrations of the project
5. Crossrail took responsibility
6. Everything was explained in plain language
7. Questions were answered directly
8. The residents were given the correct contacts in case they needed more information
In her blog, Jane added: I learned a lot, and not just about Crossrail. I saw a competent team, who had done this before, communicating directly, clearly and honestly with stakeholders. That was quite a lesson in itself.

Going the extra mile
Andy is a firm believer that every avenue must be explored before a decision is made.

He says: Overall the job is where it is because our neighbours are tolerant of what we need to do. Had we gone round antagonising everyone from day one saying this is the way it is going to be, I doubt wed be where we are. Compromise is key. Getting this bit right is just as important as getting any other part of the project right.

Whether you like it or not were in a goldfish bowl you cant hide and theres no point in trying. We are going to impact peoples lives and we know that, ultimately were going to impact positively a lot of peoples lives, but that can only really be seen and appreciated once the job is done.

A vast number of commitments were made as part of the Crossrail Act (2008), including 5,000 undertakings and assurances. Andy says that in order to truly appease stakeholders, project managers and contractors must go further. Its no good only ticking the 5,000 or so boxes. Just because youre not obliged to do something under the Bill, doesnt mean that genuine concerns later dont count. Thorough and rigorous attention to detail in terms of stakeholder management has been key for us and that means that we have to go the extra mile, again and again.

That might sound like a lot of extra work but this kind of planning and execution actually saves time and makes you more productive.

A good example is the way the organisation is engaging with the public. Anybody can sign up for regular news alerts. During the early stages of drilling and tunnelling there wasnt much to shout about or excite stakeholders and the public with, admits Andy. But as time went on there was more to show and tell. Crossrail is currently the countrys biggest archaeological dig, something thats been used to the teams advantage.
Findings from the Bronze Age were discovered including a 3,500-year-old Bronze Age transport pathway along the same route that will follow the line in east London.

This led to a month-long exhibition in London to showcase the projects archaeology finds to date. Among the exhibits were medieval human bones found at Liverpool Street, the UKs largest rare amber find and a piece of mammoth jaw bone.

A recent National Audit Office (NAO) report concluded that Crossrail is on course to be value for money music to the ears of Andy and any project manager working on the programme.

The NAO report says there is still a long way to go, but with the project recently reaching its half-way point, and with stakeholder management clearly effective and successful so far, the Crossrail team looks to be well on the tracks of success.

This article first appeared in Project magazine. APM members can read all feature articles from Project magazine over recent years by accessing the Project magazine archive.

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