Transport on the move: taking stakeholders along for the ride

By Carrie Oliver, Director, Moorhouse Consulting

In the future, there will be a growing need for transport leaders to manage an increasing number of stakeholders groups and manage them in a more effective way.  In this article we provide a teaser of Moorhouse’s approach to this challenge and showcase some of the strides transport organisations have made to date.

On the move….

The changing of the seasons this past Autumn also brought a changing of the guard in Transport at the highest levels with Geoff Hoon MP replacing Ruth Kelly as the new Secretary of State for Transport, Andrew Adonis replacing Rosie Winterton as the new Minister of State for Transport, and Paul Clark replacing Tom Harris as the new Parliamentary Under Secretary working alongside the only remaining minister Jim Fitzpatrick.  A number of announcements have quickly followed.

On 15 January, Secretary of State Hoon outlined a package of air, rail and road improvements.  More specifically he confirmed Government support for a third runway at Heathrow airport although backed away from “mixed mode” (using runways for both take-offs and landing to maximise efficiency) citing the concerns of those living in the Heathrow area in the latter case.  He announced the creation of High Speed 2, to explore the opportunities for a high speed rail service in the first instances between London the West Midlands but ultimately Scotland. And finally, he announced a £6bn roads package to increase capacity on the road both by widening but more interestingly by rolling out hard shoulder running across the core motorway network. 

Hoon stated: "Transport is the lifeblood of Britain’s economy. In spite of record levels of investment over the last decade, increasing demand means that in many places our transport infrastructure is operating at, or very near, capacity. It is essential we take the right decisions now: for the economy, to drive down greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; and to support British jobs."

The announcements were “badged” under the timely umbrella of boosting the economy and jobs whilst remaining true to long standing policies and new initiatives.  The 2003 White Paper “The Future of Air Transport” was clear in laying out Government’s support of a third runway at Heathrow.  The focus on decisions to support growth in the economy whilst reducing carbon is consistent with Government’s commitments made via “Towards a Sustainable Transport System” (TaSTS) in October 2007.  TaSTS outlined DfT’s approach to long-term transport planning and was the Department’s response to the Eddington Transport Study.

More recently (November 2008), the Department published Delivering a Sustainable Transport System (DaSTS) which explained how that transport planning approach would be put into action and outlined the goals for transport (economic competitiveness and growth, reduce transport’s reducing carbon, better safety, security and health ,greater equality of opportunity for all citizens, improve quality of life for transport users). This publication saw the start of a consultation period on planning for 2014 and beyond.

Although the introduction of a possible new high speed rail between London and Scotland is not a new concept, the announcement of work to progress these proposals is a newer development in transport. Whether the defeat of the referendum on charging in Manchester in mid-December was an expected result or not is debatable. What is certain however is that this vote signals a new chapter in road transport road pricing.

Taking stakeholders along for the ride….

Clearly, there is a lot for transport stakeholders to absorb. But just who are these stakeholders and how are they being managed? The list of transport stakeholders is long: transport users, employees and companies which depend on transport for their success, devolved administrations, local government and regional bodies who are responsible for transport on local, national and international networks, providers of transport services, suppliers and financiers. It is surprising to find anyone who does not fit into one of those categories and if they do they are likely to be among those who feel that current transport provision neglects their needs or that they have to endure the adverse impacts of transport, such as those who live near Heathrow.

Managing stakeholders in transport, some would argue, has not been done as deliberately or successfully as it could have been in years past. Most in the sector, however, would agree that it is quickly becoming a necessity. As the authority and responsibility to deliver transport initiatives that are crucial to the UK’s economy are increasingly distributed across a number of organisations and delivery is dependent on the collaboration of multiple organisations, stakeholder management is becoming ever more significant.

This reality is changing how public sector transport organisations are approaching stakeholder management. The Department for Transport (DfT) is setting the tone from the centre with an increased focus on stakeholder engagement following the findings of the last Capability Review. The Highways Agency, although already focused on the “Customer First” and collaborative working with suppliers to deliver its services, has new challenges and stakeholders as it increasingly expands its role as Network Operator.

The most critical need for successful management of stakeholders in the coming years, however, might be in the regions where governance and roles and responsibility changes will impact heavily over the next few years and there is an ever increasing push to align policies and transport strategies at all levels: local, regional and national.  The RDAs in particular will see their role change in shaping these alignments.

Just as in programme and project management more generally, we believe that effective engagement of stakeholders in an increasingly complex environment is important for collective success– critically so.  However, we recognise that there is no methodology, tool or technique that will magically guide you through the fog in this regard. Conversely, what is required is the development of an attitude and approach across a programme team; we call this PRIME Intelligence©.

PRIME© identifies the following five thematic viewpoints as follows which guide our approach to stakeholder management illustrated in the figure to the right.

1. Political Primacy – ‘Managing Stakeholders is primarily a social and, therefore, political act.’  All decisions are ultimately a human or emotional response to a range of possible options.
2. Relationship Building -  Understanding and differentiating between the different types and levels of stakeholders and plotting stakeholder ‘positions’ on a matrix – typically denoting power (influence) by interest (proximity to programme). 
3. Idea Propagation – ‘Contagiousness is a function of the messenger; stickiness is a function of the message.’  Ideas have to be memorable to move people into action. There should be a simple, memorable, mantra that is repeated over and over.  This will be particularly in ensuring that stakeholders understand the direction for the future.
4. Management Assurance – The fourth theme can be sub-divided into two messages – ‘lead and believe’ and the knowledge characterised by the expression ‘you can please some of the people, some of the time but not all of the people, all of the time.’ Firstly is the definitive need for assurance or, more appositely, leadership and, secondly the need to constantly assure progress through a careful assessment of progress. 
5. Enabled Communication - Active Listening; Match communications to audience and ‘pace’ your message.

Achieving the right balance between engaging stakeholders early and ensuring that you go to them with a sufficiently robust and clear process to build confidence and seek initial views early is a constant balancing.  Engaging early allows stakeholders to put forward their views and feed into the strategy.  It also locks stakeholders into the process which allows you to adopt a principle based approach when seeking consensus so you can always ‘get to the yes’ at each step along the process.

In summer of 2007, the Capability Review of the Department for Transport showed a relatively positive picture of the state of the Department, noting “substantial progress since DfT was created in 2002”. More specifically, it reported that although DfT was rated very strongly for using a solid evidence base to drive decisions, there was still ground to cover in engaging with its stakeholders:

‘The Capability Review indicated that some of our stakeholders feel that we do not engage with them sufficiently as we develop our strategic thinking; and that staff and stakeholders are not sure about the bigger picture. Priorities for our future: To be recognised by our stakeholders for our open and effective engagement in developing our future strategy.’

In response, DfT is increasingly focused on Relationship Building by identifying stakeholders, ensuring they are ‘owned’ within the organisation and communications planned and executed. DfT has demonstrated Enabled Communications or active listening by seeking the views of a wide range of stakeholders through varying fora (bilateral meetings, large discussion forums, and smaller road shows around the country) as they develop and assess their strategic options. Probably one of the most complex areas for an organisation like DfT is Management Assurance as the expression ‘you can please some of the people, some of the time but not all of the people, all of the time’ holds particularly true in transport!

The Highways Agency is accustomed to collaborative delivery as it relies heavily on third party contractors in operating, maintaining and improving the strategic road network. However, as it has steadily enhanced its role in operating the network, it has gained new stakeholders and a need for increased engagement with stakeholders.

As the Agency rolled out its Traffic Officer Service in 2005, taking over some of the roles and responsibilities from the police in managing traffic on the motorway, close working with the police was essential for success. In addition, as the Agency sought to increase its capabilities in traffic incident management, it was important to work closely with all of the emergency services stakeholders (police, fire, ambulance) to understand roles and responsibilities in order to be able to jointly deliver emergency services to the driving public. To aid Relationship Building, the Agency built a police-liaison team with ex-police officers, which allowed them to ‘get under the skin’  of their stakeholders, allowing them to build those bridges effectively.

Most recently, the Agency has shown an acute awareness of the importance of working with its stakeholders as it looked at the feasibility of delivering advance motorway signalling and traffic management. In March 2004, in addition to announcing further local extensions of the hard shoulder running scheme along the M42 and onto the M6, the Secretary of State announced the publication of a feasibility study that looked at how hard shoulder running could be used more widely across the road network. “It shows how a package of measures could lead toward a network of "managed motorways" - offering smoother flow and more predictable journeys at a fraction of the cost of motorway widening.”

In developing the feasibility study, the Agency worked with a stakeholder advisory group which included motoring groups, safety and enforcement groups, passenger and freight transport groups, emergency services, industry associations, lobby groups and others. The study was a good example of Enabled Communication as it was clear the Agency actively listened to its stakeholders and explicitly captured their views and concerns as a key input to the forward programme of work.

Although the RDAs have historically had no direct remit on transport, many did work with regional partners including the Highways Agency, Local Highways Authorities and Regional Assemblies to influence both the local strategies and the Department for Transport to optimise funding allocations for transport in the regions.

The role of the RDAs in transport going forward is changing dramatically due to several coalescing factors: With the July 07 publication of the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration, the RDAs will take over from the Regional Assemblies as the lead on regional transport decisions. The November 07 Draft Local Transport Bill contained proposals that will reform local transport governance arrangements and the existing legal contract for local road pricing schemes allowing implementation of schemes that reflect local needs.  With the Transport Innovation Funds (TIF) giving incentives to develop and deploy smarter, innovative, transport strategies at the local and regional level there is increased emphasis on getting to a unified transport strategy.

To be successful, RDAs, will need to work with a large number of stakeholders to align national, regional and local policy. This will require proactive stakeholder management to get to a unified policy.  There will be a need for clarify on the role of stakeholders, the need to prioritise and particular emphasis on managing expectations as local and regional priorities will not always align. Strong senior leadership will be required to develop and manage relationships and 'consistently fly the flag'. As the RDAs will not have the fall back of funding all initiatives, the need to influence partners effectively will be essential to achieving their aims. And finally, RDAs must recognise that understanding stakeholders, their areas of interest and a managed engagement can be effort-intensive activities and need to be planned.

Beyond Conventional Stakeholder Management: An Imperative for the Future of Transport

Recognising a changing transport landscape that necessitates involvement and consensus from a growing number of organisations to deliver the results sought and needed a deliberate maturation of this core capability is needed. PRIME© can help your organisation take stakeholder management from merely a science to an art.

©2009. Moorhouse Consulting Ltd

If you would like to talk to us call on the number below. Alternatively, click on the consultants email address, provide us with your details and we will call you back. We look forward to speaking to you. Contact: Email: Tel: Carrie Oliver carrieoliver@moorhouseconsulting.com +44 (0) 20 3004 4482