A journey of change: delivering transformation at Transport for London

The huge transformation taking place at Transport for London (TfL) was the topic for a fully booked evening event organised by the Enabling Change SIG on 24th March. Committee member Simon Williams, TfL’s Head of Business Change Project Management, and Steve Foster, Organisational Effectiveness Manager, presented a fascinating overview of TfL’s major transformation programmes and the integrated approach being taken to project management and business change.

An interactive game of “TfL Bingo” brought to life the scale of operations and the fact they touch virtually everyone in London.  With record passenger demand, a huge investment programme, the challenging stakeholder environment, the pace of technology development and the need to deliver significant efficiencies, the agenda for change is larger than ever.  At the same time the previous experience of change for TfL’s 28,000 staff has not always been the best.

As London Underground transforms its entire operating model, roles, processes and use of technology as well as introducing all night running at weekends, an extensive change management approach is essential.  
Other change programmes highlighted included reliability improvement, capability development for line managers, transformation of the Finance function, and a range of IT projects.

Simon and Steve explained how TfL’s Pathway project, programme and portfolio delivery methodology has been fully integrated with the Business Change Framework which provides a suite of tools for the change journey.  The Pathway gates process provides formal checks that appropriate people change activities have been completed at every stage.

The presentation concluded with a demonstration of the considerable investment made in developing change capability across TfL, including a range of training interventions, change events and a 400 strong internal change community on social media.

A lively question and answer session followed, exploring issues as diverse as organisational culture and the practical challenges of engagement, and discussions continued long into the evening.

Enabling Change SIG

Simon Williams and Steve Foster have kindly shared their slide material.