Bring together a steering group

A steering group is key to moving forward across the different stages of a Station Innovation Zone (SIZ). They will be championing the work and achieve buy-in across different stakeholder groups. 

The SIZ brings together each of the key strands for running a station – TOC, operations, maintenance, strategic planning, policy specialists – to guide SME through trials and access to wider teams within rail to help refine their ideas.

Formalising the steering group is essential to ensure there is appropriate time and resources made available to each of the steering group members.

For each role – as described below – select one or two individuals.  

When identifying each member, understand:
Why each member needs to be involved
What expertise they bring into the steering group to help achieve the tasks
What each member requires from the steering group to achieve their tasks set
Have a clear understanding of commitment required from each member in terms of time and resources to progress the different phases of the SIZ.
How each member is funded/resourced to spend time on the SIZ.

A central responsibility for each of the steering group members is to achieve agreement within their respective (parts of the) organisation(s) to contribute to discussions that will be ongoing throughout to reach collaborative decisions.

Steering group roles:

Programme manager

Programme sponsor

Communications manager

Testbed manager

Station manager

TOC manager

BTM Learning

The SIZ BTM team did not set up a steering group from the start. This meant that an internal network within the innovator approval still had to be established, which led to a slowing down the process towards the end of Year 1 in our programme. We since have also established partnerships with NR’s R&D team, fire, fire asset and security representatives which will be part of the wider network of the steering group.
The amount of time from people outside of the steering group was underestimated. We had to develop clear communication channels and a lot of work was required to secure necessary resource and time. Influence over different disciplines within the station would help the impact the trials can have on the passenger experience at the station.
Be open to adding to and changing those in the steering group as the programme grows and the requirements are better understood. In year 3, we clarified the distinction between the roles of testbed, station and TOC managers and how these roles are essential to the steering group.
Ensure steering group members get sufficient time and resources allocated to go through stage 1 of a Station Innovation Zone, as stage 1 happens before a formal contract is agreed upon. (This happens in stage 2.)
Identify someone (e.g. from the station or regional teams or even external if this is contractually possible) to act as a champion for each of the challenge areas. Ideally this person has a vested interest in the challenge area and can support the trial and communicate the value of the solution trialled to a wider audience.
We established the role of a dedicated testbed manager, who has in-depth knowledge of the station and its operations. Their fulltime role is to get access to people, expertise and data, and has been vital in organising the trials. The wider network outside of the steering group has supported us in overcome the barrier of time and commitment.
By the end of year 3, we are still dealing with several challenges that may limit the steering group’s performance. There is limited control over the stakeholder input or contractor works, as there is no budget to pay for their time. We quite often have to seek work free of charge.
The dedicated role as testbed manager can be more involved with decision making, planning, along with advising and influencing. This was a change from year 1, when the testbed manager role was supportive and only advisory.
In year 4 of the programme, we would hope to further develop the testbed manager role prioritising:
Getting contractual agreements with all stakeholders. This would enable an easier process for agreeing various aspects and reduce timeframes currently in place (to ensure trial installs, participation in trials, more timely responses, having the ability to pay for other people’s time (cost centres))
Consider having a mature regional working group/surgery/forum that can sit regularly and help steer direction of trials, measuring impact and troubleshooting challenges – rather than individually and ad hoc
Having regional innovation approach that spans all disciplines under a wider efficiency/value directorate – this way we can get a better understanding of how innovation can unlock benefits for passenger experience, asset management, maintenance, and operational efficiency etc – rather than current siloed approach