Case Studies | London Underground Jubilee Line Extension Project
At first glance The London Underground (LUL) appears to be a complex organization. Upon further inspection, however, it becomes quickly apparent that its complexity is, quite simply, staggering. So daunting, in fact, that the organization concluded that it needed outside help, objective eyes, to assist in improving its organization. But before we talk about that, let's go underground.
London Underground —commonly referred to as 'The Tube'— is the longest metro system in the world by route length. It has over 250 stations, 400 kms of track above and below ground, and transports around 1 billion people per year. That's over a 250,000 people per day. London Underground is also a venerated institution of British ingenuity, and has been around since 1863. So has some of its infrastructure. Which means that in addition to efficiently shuttling hundreds of thousands of people through the heart and underbelly of London everyday, it must constantly endeavour to proactively maintain its tracks, tunnels and equipment. And, of course, to provide exceptional service to a quarter of a million people. As can be imagined, this is no small task. There are several unions represented, along with partner companies, government oversight and external contractors. A multitude of timetables, route information and safety protocol must be interpolated and agreed upon in order for even the smallest action to transpire.
When London Underground needed to link to a new rapidly developing area of London, it embarked on its single largest line extension: a £6 billion project, taking place over a 6 year time span, involving tunneling below Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and all taking place while 'the Tube' operated, hopefully, as normal.
That's when they contacted Qanda.
Our involvement with the project saw us overseeing, negotiating and mediating relations between different parties involved in the project. We created project simulations for engineering teams, frontline operations staff, middle management, board members, train drivers and ticket collectors. We observed ground level actions and suggested process improvements, performed team building exercises, created and disseminated operating procedures, augmented the organizations overall structure; holistically improved organization and inter-departmental communications, and in the end, assisted in smoothing many of the rough edges of complexity associated with one of the world's simultaneously most staggering and inspiring systems.
Here's some examples of what we did.
Team Building
At one point in the project, electrical designs were taking too long. In order for progress to proceed apace, civil engineering contractors warned that they would simply have to begin pouring concrete without allowances for electrical conduits. This situation appeared to have the potential to quickly become a flashpoint. Tensions flared between designers, engineers and contractors. Communications were bogged down between the groups, and an excess of beauracracy and protocol hampered effective collaboration. In addition, if the situation did not proceed apace, costs overruns would quickly escalate into many millions of dollars. There were over 40 major players in the team of stakeholders, from the both the UK and Canada. As they say in the metro industry, Qanda hit the tracks running. After thoroughly and efficiently consulting the stakeholders, we designed a program consisting of a simulation & a series of exercises in which team members exchanged their typical project roles with other team members. Following the exercise we would facilitate discussions about parallels and disparities between the exercise and reality. As a result we were quickly able to foster a sense of empathy and understanding throughout the organization. Stakeholders immediately noticed a new sense of identity being assumed (a team vs. individual stakeholder identities) and a clarified and revitalized sense of purpose. This new holistic understanding not only accelerated the entire project, but also directly contributed to increased efficiencies.
And over time, little successes began to occur on a more regular basis. One such example was that individuals who had at first been distant and removed, now communicated in a much more streamlined and efficient manner. This was a direct benefit of having shared an intense three day experience together. Whereas communication had been more formal and indirect, team members from different departments and contractors leveraged their familiar terms and simply called each other.
Westminster Tunnel
The tunneling contractor had gone through the station roof. Literally. Crews had perforated the station roof with some drilling equipment, and now the station manager and union was refusing to allow the project team to access the area. Expensive delays were mounting rapidly. We were briefed to create an understanding between the diverse needs of two separate groups. On one hand, we had station staff who required safety, order, cleanliness They were heavily unionized and struggled to see the need for change. The tunneling contractors were working on exceptionally on tight timelines and weren't particularly enthusiastic to negotiate with the station staff. We had to determine how to best integrate the cyclical views of maintenance with the linear thought of the project's contractors.
We created a three-day simulation of the project, and each of the 40 stakeholders had a chance to experience the world and constraints of the other stakeholders. Very soon, changes became noticeable. Everyone was involved in the programs, including the Chief Engineer responsible for safety standards. An entirely new understanding began to pervade the parties involved. The project made much more sense holistically once they had had the opportunity to view it from a different perspective. Not only did it change the way they looked at the project, it changed the way they looked at us. Suddenly, Qanda became the trouble shooting program solution for a number of stuck or stalled projects which were costing millions of dollars in their delays. The end result was that the relationship between Qanda and London Underground progressed to the point where any new project being considered went through a simulation exercise. Qanda was no longer simply involved with projects that had stalled: our true value was recognized at being involved in the project from its very inception.
JNP
One of the stakeholders in the LUL Jubilee line extension was JNP, a (PPP) Public Private Partnership company who were the primary engineer contractor for the railway extension. This new team had devolved from a heavily unionized government organization, and its workforce had little commercial cognizance, profit motive or contract awareness. We were briefed and contracted to work with JNP to help instill a new sense of action and accountability as demanded within the PPP contract.
Over the course of the next six months, we were privileged to work with the entire JNP workforce — over 2500 people— through the program.
We began with the board and senior managers, and worked our way through the organization. Our firm was positioned as a conduit, an objective listener, and as a team that could get things done, make changes, and cared about success for all parties. Our empathy and objectivity were contagious, and soon the workforce began demonstrating a greater sense of understanding, integrity and commitment to the project. All Qanda's team facilitators took notes on our discussions, which we then synthesized and delivered to management for review every two weeks. JNP's management found this direct objective feedback so critical that they appointed a full time manager to work with us in order to best implement the suggestions and address issues that arose as a result.
Overtime, delegates from different departments began reporting directly to Qanda. This soon created a virtuous spiral with direct practical changes throughout the organization. Small changes had big returns on investment, such as having spare parts on hand for routine maintenance instead of having to requisition them. Soon a steady stream of 'little things,' carefully observed, recorded, addressed and improved upon began to show exceptional return on investment.
Within a year, the program had more than paid for itself. In 2008, 2 other PPP engineering companies involved with the railway went bankrupt. JNP (now Tube Lines) thrives today and is a vibrant and well working organization.
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