Background: “Yorkshire Water’s vision is to be known as the best water company in the UK. It is clear that this can only be achieved by working at the highest levels of performance with our Contract Partners. … We look forward to receiving your submissions.”

With this invitation from Yorkshire Water clear, MWH UK Ltd and MJ Gleeson agreed to work in partnership in bidding for work in the fourth round of Yorkshire Water’s Asset Management Programme (AMP 4). This Joint Venture builds upon 20 years of successful working relationships in the UK between Gleeson and MWH including 10 years working in partnership with Yorkshire Water.

The partners set up a ‘stand alone’ company called Watermark, to bid for the work. If successful, Watermark would be co-located with Yorkshire Water’s staff as a Joint Delivery Team to ensure the achievement of the highest levels of performance as a Contract Partner.

To be successful, Watermark recognised that they needed to align their organisational structure, behaviour and goals with Yorkshire Water and that to do this they needed support to achieve this.
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Solution/Process: Q. Learning, with their expertise and experience in partnership and organisational change, and their network and experience which spreads across other industry sectors, were selected to work with Watermark throughout the six month bid process; and then, assuming Watermark’s selection as a Contract Partner, throughout the consolidation phase, the transition and the delivery of AMP 4.

“It was Q. Learning’s limitless enthusiasm for the challenge ahead, coupled with an understanding of what was driving our client’s behavioural characteristics for AMP that led us to appoint them. They were the only one of our potential suppliers who had really thought about this and researched it prior to interview.”

Steve Frith, Director of MWH (UK) Ltd

Q. Learning’s task was to work as part of the Watermark Management Team to do what was needed to contribute to the team’s success and ensuring they became a partner of whom Yorkshire Water could be proud.

At Q. Learning we believe strongly in the value that we add by coaching, advising and supporting individuals and teams ‘in the moment’ and that this can only be done with significant physical presence. The brief was wide and hence, so was the range of activities;

* Facilitation and development of the vision for Watermark
* Development of job description and candidate specification for recruitment of General Manager
* Organisation, administration and production of reports for psychometric tests of interview candidates
* Involvement in selection interviewing and 1;1 feedback to interview candidates
* Administration and feedback on MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) to all team members involved in bid production
Develop Partnership Programme, requiring significant culture change
* Cultural Analysis of the Yorkshire Water bid documentation and website
* Production of guidance notes for Bid authors
* Bid writing, proof reading and feedback
* Staff Workshop facilitation and feedback process
* 1;1 coaching, advice and support of individual team members to encourage appropriate behaviour
* Mock Yorkshire Water interview feedback
* Attendance at Management Team interview with Yorkshire Water
* Facilitation of mock Group Workshop with feedback, advice and 1;1 support to attendees
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Outcome: Following many long days, nights, weekends and bank holidays of hard work by members of the Watermark team, other individuals from their parent organizations brought into support the team, and the Q. Learning consultants, the long awaited phone call came ….

….On the 26th July 2004, Andrew Stiven, Watermark’s General Manager was told the news that Watermark had been selected as one of Yorkshire Water’s four preferred Contract Partners.

“I must admit I thought about the width of the smile that would be on your face when you heard the news! Thanks again for helping to make it happen.”
Ian McAulay, Director of Programme Management, EMEAI, MWH Global

What Watermark really wants, and believes will make the biggest difference to their individual performance and ultimately Yorkshire Water’s, is to develop the existing good relationships and the culture that supports them still further within the Joint Delivery Team. This includes extending it to include the supply chain and other successful Contract Partners.

The culture will be one of enthusiasm and commitment to excellence, of shared recognition of achievement, of enjoyment in what we are doing and what we are about, of learning, improving and growing as individuals and as a team. This, together with a real focus on the customer in everything they do, will ensure that they are even more successful as a partner in the future.