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Urban Transport Group Case Study
DEFINING CULTURE THROUGH ACTION: How IGNITE Performance Consultancy helped drive leadership transformation and a significant step-change for Urban Transport Group
Background
The Urban Transport Group is the trade body for the UK's network of local transport authorities.
The organisation, as it stands today, employees 17 members of staff in total and has been established for over two decades. The group’s main focus is to support the vision that, for city-regions, towns, and surrounding areas to be green, fair, healthy, and prosperous places, public transport and active travel options should provide access and opportunity for every member of the community.
We spoke to Jason Prince, Urban Transport Group’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who explained the role of the organisation in more detail by telling us this:
“Urban Transport Group is focused on four areas: policy, advocacy, thought leadership and convening in addition to running a leadership academy.”
About the primary challenges
Speaking about the performance and professional development issues that he encountered when joining Urban Transport Group, CEO, Jason Prince told us this:
“When I joined the organisation, we had just six members of staff and I felt there were structural improvements that could be made to enhance performance. I felt there were organisational gaps and believed that there were some key behaviours that weren’t embedded in the organisational structure. It was noticeably clear I needed support to figure out how to restructure our organisation and help it function more effectively.
“One of the key organisational gaps I identified was that there were leaders in the group who had never actually received any support to be better leaders and that was something I felt passionate about putting right. That’s where IGNITE’s expertise really became invaluable.”
How did Urban Tranport Group hear about IGNITE and what solutions were provided to help overcome the
Jason actually first met Matt in a social setting, but having heard more about what IGNITE offered decided to reach out to him in a professional capacity as he felt that Urban Transport Group could benefit greatly from his expertise. Jason told us this:
“Matt and I had an initial meeting in Birmingham to go through in more detail what IGNITE could provide. The timing couldn’t have been better. I had some major restructuring plans in place and what I needed in terms of consultative support, Matt and the team at IGNITE clearly offered.”
The key solutions provided by IGNITE centred around the creation of a team charter based around five success mindsets:
● Curiosity
● Collaboration
● Agility
● Innovation
● Accountability
This led to the creation of a behaviour framework, providing clarity of the behaviours that everyone needs to show up with, that can be measured and recognised. Jason went on to explain in more detail about the specific impacts and benefits that were informed by these pillars and the pivotal role that these played in developing a culture that would support the successful delivery of the re-structuring programme he was implementing:
● Coaching programme developed and launched: “My first priority when we started working with IGNITE was to ask Matt to provide corporate coaching to key members of staff, beginning with my assistant director. I’m not exaggerating when I say, it was revolutionary in terms of transforming how she saw her role.”
● First ever team ‘away day’ facilitated: “The coaching provided some key insights into the team dynamic and highlighted the benefits of giving the people the opportunity to step away from the business, gain a fresh perspective and recalibrate shared purpose. I asked Matt to facilitate an away day for the team which was very well received by everyone. It gave the whole team faith in the structural changes I was putting in place and boosted individual confidence, in line with key behavioural changes I was keen to affect.”
● Clearer management improvement pathways were established: “This was probably the most acute challenge for us. It made a huge difference getting Matt’s expertise on board to help us demonstrate our commitment to supporting our senior team to grow, develop and ultimately become better leaders.”
● Behaviours that elevate trust were embedded throughout the organisation: “This was a really important part of our journey with IGNITE. Matt was instrumental in helping us to transform our culture and actively embrace honest values and culture, and a curious mindset – and that has without a doubt made us better as an organisation. With IGNITE’s support, I literally saw a change within weeks, in terms of behaviours across the organisation. Senior members of the team almost immediately began displaying a much greater sense of ownership. They now clearly feel they have a much more defined place in our ecosystem which is helping them to perform more efficiently within their individual roles. This has undoubtedly meant that we’re seeing a more engaged leadership team and a higher quality output.”
● Negative habits that were undermining effective collaboration were identified and negated : “Before engaging IGNITE, we’d been operating to fairly narrow parameters. When I came on board, it was clear to me, we could do much more, in terms of our collaborative outputs; both in the way they reflected the needs of our external environment, and the needs of our members, who we must ensure are receiving value from their membership. I knew to achieve all of that, we needed to improve the way our teams worked together, but that would require a significant culture shift. Through workshops, coaching and development of clearer values, IGNITE has really helped us make that happen.”
Jason Prince told us this about his experience of working
“I saw a measurable change in our culture and team performance within a matter of weeks of engaging IGNITE. I genuinely think it was the first time that many colleagues actually felt valued. There has been a complete change in how each individual works within the team, how they see their contribution to the team, how they manage upwards and downwards.
The experience of working with IGNITE has definitely been transformational for everyone involved. From the one-to-one coaching to the leadership development programme that Matt took our senior team through, every aspect of what IGNITE provided (and still provides) ensures our leadership team understands the true value they bring to Urban Transport Group and has a deeper belief of their potential as individuals. Matt has given key members of our team confidence in what they do and what they’re able to achieve. Over and above that, he’s particularly good at helping our teams put what they’ve learnt into action. His application of theory in the workshops he’s held for us has been especially useful. He goes further than just telling people what they should do; he actually works with them to help them to put things into action. Ultimately Matt’s supported our teams to drive up efficiency and effectiveness; in the last three years our turnover, output and learning offer have all more than doubled, all of which has culminated in us having the capacity to take on more members and embrace more commercial opportunities. I consider the work that Matt’s done to be a significantly contributing factor in helping us to build the foundations to achieve all of that. As an individual, he’s clearly a people person, very empathetic and very good at building relationships and the team have responded extremely well to his warm character. Beyond being a genuinely nice person, Matt’s also technically, very knowledgeable, indeed and this has given my team and I absolute confidence and trust in him, from the very start.”
Matt Bullock, IGNITE Performance Consultancy’s Director and
“The strongest cultures aren't built through posters on walls. They emerge when teams agree how they will show up every day. That’s been clearly evidenced by the progress made by Jason and his team at Urban Transport Group.”