Roads to Resilience

that, then you miss out an awful lot. Just go and ask somebody … You’ll find the person you want and you’ll find a whole pile of other stuff too. You learn all sorts about what’s going on ” (Managing Director). The company also takes active steps to avoid a ‘culture of blame’, which would undermine the emphasis on teams. There is “ very little blame internally … the people who stay awake all night worrying, they will beat themselves up, they do not need to have somebody else telling them that they have done a bad job ” (Project Leader). The board also promotes a constructive approach to risk taking: “ we are aware that people make mistakes … One of the tasks of the more senior guys is to manage the consequences of a junior making mistakes. If they are not allowed to make little mistakes, they will not learn and, sooner or later the mistakes will be big ones ” (Chairman). The lack of a blame culture also means that mistakes can be identified and dealt with early on, rather than being ignored: “ We are communicating to the client … we have realised something and it was unforeseen … if it is something where we have made a mistake, we will flag that ” (Project Leader). Although everything is done to avoid a blame culture, this does not mean that criticism is frowned upon. Critical and tough questions are expected in group meetings, and people understand “ it is ok to ask questions, provided you’re polite ” (Chairman). It is also common to ask others for advice which “ is largely quid pro quo because you will do the same for them and usually you try and ask the people that you think have a good level of experience and have experienced problems in the past. So they know the kinds of things that you should be looking for ” (Project Leader). TTP is an operating company within the TTP Group. Other companies in the group include TTP Venture Managers, which invests in IT and clean technology, TTP Labtech, which supplies instrumentation and custom automation, and Tonejet, which operates in the commercial and industrial printing markets. The TTP Group also owns Melbourn Science Park, where TTP is based 3 . Operations at TTP are characterised by a project-led organisational structure, with a flat hierarchy: “ There is very little hierarchy for a start – that is one of the major things. So if you are ambitious and you want to climb the ladder you do not come to TTP. However TTP recognises good people, they only really take on good people and they pay very well. So it is a pretty unique company in that respect ” (Project Leader). This encourages independent thinking which is essential in the autonomous environment of TTP. Risk management is very much based on awareness at the individual and project-level, with less focus on tools and techniques. For example, TTP does not run traditional project management training; instead it runs what are called ‘Project Leadership Courses’. At the project-level an absolute key element of risk management is the monthly ‘Project Peer Reviews’. Their role is not seen as one of line management, but as an aid to reflection for the project leader, “ to assist by helping the person to stand back ” (Managing Director). This means the reviews: “ ask you difficult questions and [help] spot things that you might not have thought of yourself ” (Project Leader). So, at the project-level, much of the emphasis is on the team and project leader taking the responsibility to identify and deal with project risks, strongly Business structure

3 See: http://www.ttp.com/corporate/about

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Appendix A Case study: The Technology Partnership