"Co-Creating" a Risk Legacy

Problem

A major UK energy transmission operator, a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure, faced a pivotal moment as it prepared for the new regulatory investment cycle which was anticipated to significantly increase the volume, scale and complexity of their project portfolio. It required the organisation to
be “match fit” to deliver those projects with confidence.

Over time, attrition of staff had weakened the internal risk management function. Key staff had departed, leaving capability and knowledge gaps at a time when the workload was expected to rise.

In addition, risk processes, frameworks and systems were inconsistent, while ongoing organisational design change drove additional complexity into the working environment.

Without immediate intervention, the business risked entering the new regulatory period under-prepared, exposing delivery to potential cost, schedule and assurance failures.

For transparency, this case study draws upon the recent real life work experience of an industry trusted risk advisor prior to joining Kaleido.
Expertise, capability and experience follows the individual not past employers and our intention at Kaleido is to demonstrate our capability heritage.

Challenge

The client urgently needed to rebuild its risk capability in a way that was robust, scalable and aligned to its emerging future operating model whilst under increasing regulatory scrutiny.

Several challenges stood out:

Capability and Capacity: With weakened capability and resources, the risk function lacked the depth and breadth of expertise and deep industry experience necessary to support the demands from anticipated growth.

Regulatory pressure: Increased regulatory scrutiny was putting extreme pressure on justifying cost efficiency and ability of the business to provide confidence in delivery of the proposed and increased project portfolio.

Governance and Assurance: Several gaps existing in robust risk and contingency reporting, governance and assurance which urgently needed addressing to offer regulatory and public confidence in managing risk and controlling change.

Organisational change: The ongoing organisational redesign and implementation of a new operating model (to achieve the new regulatory investment deal) injects additional complexity into any change initiative.

Systems & Tools: Existing risk tools and systems were dated, not comprehensive, lacked integration and the business lacked the capability to provide meaningful risk insights to support fully effective risk based decision making.

Risk culture: It was acknowledged by the business that risk culture had become stale and risk maturity was below par which can take time to address even during normal operating conditions but further compounded by all the above.

Solution

Systems and Digital Innovation

An expert detailed review of the existing risk system and tools was undertaken to test "fit-for-purpose" requirements which revealed numerous capability gaps and deficiencies. Detailed recommendations were provided along with a concise roadmap for future software acquisition.

Expert demonstrations of best in class risk software was provided to showcase how enhanced risk insights could be revealed with more capable tools and associated upskilling of the risk team.

Rapidly designed and implemented an innovative and intuitive "industry leading" (proven) risk intelligence Power BI App which integrated risk, contingency and financial investment data. This was deployed to over 100 project stakeholders in the first wave, with minimal training and unanimous positive feedback. This also yielded immediate cost and process efficiency savings.

Partnered very effectively with the client business intelligence team to rapidly integrate the Power BI App into the common data environment to leave an enduring legacy and capability.

Engagement and Culture

Used expert communication and facilitation techniques to secure buy-in during capability uplift across people, processes and systems, ensuring the legacy change was owned and embedded rather than resisted.

Recognising that teams are made up of individuals the engagement and communication was tailored in a way which worked for them but still aligned to the overall outcomes being sought.

Adopted a truly "co-creative" and partnering approach to positively engage and seek buy-in from stakeholders at all levels, driving a risk-aware culture to support decision making.

Change implementation projects often fail as they rush to implement. The approach the advisor opted to take was to "slow down" first in order to "speed up" later to help the client maximise benefits.

A comprehensive risk capability uplift programme was carefully and thoughtfully designed and developed in partnership with the client. This "co-creative" approach ensured buy-in, sufficient engagement and ownership of the legacy change.

A systems approach was adopted to explore, analyse and understand the improvements needed across people, process and tools. An implementation plan was then established which was realistic, achievable and led to incremental and sustainable gains over time.

Capability and Capacity Uplift

Training needs were aligned to risk profession and industry best practices. This was delivered across technical areas (e.g. quantitative cost and schedule risk analysis) but also non-technical areas (e.g. effective workshop facilitation, communication, "soft skills" and planning).

One-to-one coaching and mentoring specific to individual needs and development gaps was ongoing throughout, ensuring that knowledge transfer was embedded and the internal risk team developed confidence, independence and resilience.

Knowledge sharing sessions were also delivered to non-risk experts and a broad range of stakeholders to build awareness and to help them engage risk teams more effectively.

Guidance and direct support was provided in the recruitment of new staff to strengthen internal capacity. A recruitment strategy paper was developed and shared with detailed recommendations to build and sustain enduring risk capability.

Frameworks and Processes

A comprehensive expert review of current-state risk practices was undertaken which included engaging a broad range of project and risk stakeholders. The objective was to elicit objective and constructive feedback to ensure accuracy in identifying gaps and developing the right interventions yielding maximum impact.

A new and enhanced portfolio wide risk management framework was developed and implemented with associated methodologies, processes and tools aligned to the organisational context, best practice and regulatory requirements.

The Change Control process was forensically assessed with detailed recommendations made to improve processes, systems, governance, rigour and integration with risk and contingency management.

This engagement shows how Kaleido can partner with clients to rebuild and strengthen capability at a critical juncture. By addressing people, process, systems and culture in tandem and by combining structured frameworks with hands-on coaching, mentoring and innovative digital tools we can empower our clients with renewed confidence.

This will result in not just more capable teams, but a more resilient project organisation, equipped with the risk intelligence, behaviours and governance needed to deliver with confidence to achieve successful outcomes.