Major Projects Leadership

Academy

Dr Paul Chapman

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

Webinar for the Association for Project Management

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Agenda

2

The Partners

The Challenge

The Commitment

The Learning & Development Initiative

The Impact

Final Reflections

The Partners

Major Projects Authority, Cabinet Office

A collaboration between the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, the Major Projects

Authority (MPA) acts as the government’s project watchdog, improving project

performance through the provision of resources for civil servants, standardised

assurance for Ministers, and transparency for taxpayers.

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

A young, vibrant, and innovative business school deeply embedded in an 800 year

old world-class university, addressing long-horizon phenomena by delivering

cutting-edge education and ground-breaking research that transforms individuals,

practice, and society.

Deloitte

The largest professional services network in the world, Deloitte offers an

extraordinary range of expertise and skills to respond to clients’ rapidly changing

needs from global restructuring to governance.

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The Challenge

“Transforming Major Project Delivery in Government”

The UK Government Major Project Portfolio has a combined whole-life cost of around

£500billion. With poor Major Project performance long being a bugbear of efficient

Government the MPLA was set the aim of “Transforming Major Project Delivery in

Government”.

An Embedded Human Resource Requirement

Major Project leaders are needed across Government, so the challenge was to build

technical and commercial know-how, and to develop and retain the leadership and

professional capability within Government.

Intended Programme Impact

Develop already capable and skilled Senior Civil Servants into a cadre of world class

Major Project leaders capable of delivering projects on time and on budget.

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Challenge: Major projects are more diverse than

would first appear

Mega-events:

sports, culture

and politics

Big science:

science,

infrastructure

and politics

Megaprojects:

Energy: Social programmes

Enterprise: business growth

physical

infrastructure,

concrete, IT

and politics

mostly

politics?

Crossrail

Elon Musk, SpaceX Aire Valley Leeds Enterprise Zone

The Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Doesn’t happen

like this anymore

Sellafield nuclear plant

Diamond Light Source, Oxon

obesity education

Wind farm

Transformation:

change, people

and IT

Capital eqpt:

capability,

performance

and politics A380

NHS Change

Model HMS Dragon (T45)

“This is not a ship”

The Commitment

Strong Ministerial and Permanent Secretary endorsement

Introduce mandatory leadership development across the entire Major Project portfolio

Recognition of the expert standing of Major Project leaders.

Engage Extensive Experience Across the Partnership

No single partner had the capability to deliver the required impact so the true

collaboration was necessary to enable an intellectually rigorous approach to be delivered

effectively.

Scale, Pace and Agility

Scale - Commitment to Civil Service Reform Plan objective that all 320 project leaders

undertake the MPLA.

Pace - Ensuring all participants had begun the programme by the end of 2014

Agility - Quickly responding to the needs of Government and ensuring the ongoing

relevance of the MPLA to participants.

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The Learning & Development Initiative

• Launched 2008

• Students are major

programme

managers and high

performing talent

from around the

world and across

sectors (260 people

on 6 cohorts so far)

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UK Government Major Project Leadership Academy

“Substantially improve delivery of

major projects by ….

commencing training of all

leaders of major projects through

the Major Projects Leadership

Academy by the end of 2014”

(320 people on 12 cohorts)

MSc Major Programme Management

• Part-time over 24 months; eight courses

plus dissertation (120 days)

• Details at: www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/mpm

• Part-time over 12 months; three

modules (30 days)

• Launched 2012

• Participants are UK

Government Major

Project Leaders

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Civil-Service-Reform-Plan-acc-final.pdf

The Learning & Development Initiative

• Launched 2008

• Students are major

programme

managers and high

performing talent

from around the

world and across

sectors (260 people

on 6 cohorts so far)

8

UK Government Major Project Leadership Academy

“Substantially improve delivery of

major projects by ….

commencing training of all

leaders of major projects through

the Major Projects Leadership

Academy by the end of 2014”

(320 people on 12 cohorts)

MSc Major Programme Management

• Part-time over 24 months; eight courses

plus dissertation (120 days)

• Details at: www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/mpm

• Part-time over 12 months; three

modules (30 days)

• Launched 2012

• Participants are UK

Government Major

Project Leaders

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Civil-Service-Reform-Plan-acc-final.pdf

The Learning & Development Initiative

The Programme Design

Commencing with a pilot cohort, the programme design includes three, one-week residential courses in Oxford with participants committing a further fifteen days to preparation, assignments, master classes and reviewing a Major Project.

See next slide: Programme Design Overview.

Learning Methods

Anchored in theory, the learning retained a strong practical relevance through team and case study exercises, and face to face exposure to world-class project leaders.

Despite delivery at scale, the essential focus on individual learning was ensured through coaching and tailored support against personal development plans.

Throughout, the institutional partnership worked in tandem with a partnership between individual participants and the programme team.

Indicators of Progress

Commit and engagement by participants was noted as a ‘tell tale’ and acted upon.

Participant feedback was sought to ensure that the necessary quality was maintained.

Written assessments provided an input on the ability of participants to internalise the course

material and content.

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Programme Design Overview

The Impact

Acquisition of learning by participants

Results from the written assessments demonstrate that participants have internalised the

course material and content.

Application of new skills or behaviours by participants

The MPLA is meeting its aim of returning world class project leadership capability to

Government.

Results at organisational level

“Two years ago we were delivering around one third of projects on time and now it is up

nearer two thirds.” - Sir Bob Kerslake, the then Head of the Civil Service

Financial ROI

78 participants have graduated with the first four MPLA cohorts, collectively realising

savings of £347 million.

Participants’ reactions: immediate post-programme

participant feedback shows the MPLA has been well received, with 87% rating the

programme as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’.

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MPLA impact - Government’s perspective

“From what I have seen it is an

excellent course ... together with

other things we have done it has

led us to improve our confidence in

delivering projects on time and on

budget.

- Sir Bob Kerslake, Head of the

Civil Service

“The MPLA is helping to make sure we have the

right people with the right skills to deliver on time

and on budget … That’s why I’ve decided that all

senior leaders will need to take this course before

the Treasury gives the green light for any major

project.”

Danny Alexander Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Tony Graham (MoD;) Stefanie Murphy (DECC);

Dr Paul Chapman; Sir Bob Kerslake

Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury

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Final Reflections

The MPLA is enabling Major Project Leaders to deliver through:

• Providing a deeper understanding the anatomy of Major Projects

• Supporting major project leaders to take ownership of their work

• Influencing the wider ‘operating environment’ across government

• Contributing to policy making by considering how policies will be delivered at

early stages, so setting up them up for success

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Agenda

14

The Partners

The Challenge

The Commitment

The Learning & Development Initiative

The Impact

Final Reflections