Cultural change can help infrastructure firms boost productivity
From major delays to spiralling costs, infrastructure projects are facing mounting challenges – while AI and technology are presented as clear solutions. According to Curzon Consulting experts, however, the answer does not only lie in new tools – but in cultural transformation.
Average productivity levels in the infrastructure industry have remained consistently below the UK average and have grown more slowly until recently. Specialised construction activities in particular have been the least productive.
According to Curzon Consulting Partner Andrew Wilson and Senior Consultant Milo Eadie, major infrastructure projects now constantly face delays and over-runs. In research published on the firm's LinkedIn profile, they explained that the average schedule delay is of 14 months, while the average cost increase per project is 58%. The total cost of this to the infrastructure sector is more than £48 billion – eroding public trust and economic returns in the process.
There are multiple reasons behind this. The experts noted that a lack of standardised, quality data sets have made meaningful analysis of infrastructure change difficult. Meanwhile, digital tools billed as supplying silver bullets to these issues have not delivered – in part because they operate in siloes, but also because often human skills have been neglected in favour of digital investments.
Other research of the industry has found that despite some advances, the UK construction sector continues to account for 27% of all fatal workplace injuries. Meanwhile, the UK construction industry is facing a looming skills crisis, as by 2027, it’s expected to have a shortfall of 225,000 workers – as the sector (and its troublesome safety statistics) struggle to replenish an ageing workforce with skilled young talent.
Looking at the challenges facing people and processes in the infrastructure sector, then, the researchers found that a number of challenges to improving productivity in the sector.
These included securing consistent engagement and behavioural changes across a diverse supply chain, without aligned incentives. But addressing the breadth of supply chains to manage performance, ensuring productivity improvement interventions did not remain siloed, could play a key role in boosting performance across the sector.
For example, the researchers suggested that incentivising suppliers to alter their behaviours could play a transformative role. This could encourage firms to enhance accountability across their organisations, and collaboratively improve productivity in the process.
Curzon Consulting is a firm which has deployed expertise in digital and cultural transformation to clients for over a decade. The researchers closed by noting they have previously helped organisations make the kind of transition they talked about; including building shared accountability for performance across multi-tier supply chains; unlocking the power of data; and using cultural transformation to build individual wins into systemic, organisational gains.
