Blueprint for better SMEs

A business improvement programme squarely aimed at small and mid-size construction companies is looking to simplify the confusing array of initiatives currently plaguing the industry.

The Blueprint programme condenses initiatives such as Investors in People, Rethinking Construction and Respect for People into a handbook of advice, guidance, tips and key performance indicators. Based on the belief that ploughing money into a business isn't as effective as motivating staff and thinking critically about business processes, the Blueprint takes managers step by step through how they can use their people to improve their businesses.

Included is a questionnaire and action plan so organisations can assess where they are now and how to move forward. It also comes with staff and management appraisal and review documents.

"It's good advice, basically," said Clare Lemmy, innovation and research manager at the CIOB, "but it can bring big savings. One company using it realised that the 50 trips a month they were making for nuts and bolts and the like could be reduced to just eight."

But the key to getting the most out of the Blueprint is attending a series of monthly workshops where people swap experiences and advice. Attending four workshops allows participants - everyone from managing directors to owners and HR directors - to get to grips with how to use the Blueprint. Each month, attendees set themselves Blueprint targets and the workshop discusses their progress in subsequent meetings.

With many larger companies already committed to getting the best out of their staff, the Blueprint is targeting small and mid-size businesses. Small builder Westridge Construction is an example of what can be achieved. Its profits have risen as a direct result of following the Blueprint programme, according to managing director Stephen Phillips. "Before, our profit level was around the industry average at about 2%; now it's 5%. Because our workforce is happier, our customers are happier."

Phillips said the rapid growth of the company had led to increasing workforce dissatisfaction. "The Blueprint gave us a good kick in helping us to look at ourselves. Now staff are much more involved. They contribute more ideas and are willing to make things happen. We didn't have that before."

The brainchild of management consultant John Cox of SCA, who envisaged it as a tool for businesses in all industries, the Blueprint has been around for five years. In the past lessons learned by other industries have often been rejected as inappropriate for construction, but Bill Temple, at that time policy advisor for the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), went along to a Blueprint meeting and left convinced it was a great idea that should be tailored for the construction industry.

That was 18 months ago. Now, 20 pilot schemes later, the Blueprint for Building Performance is ready. It was developed by SCA together with the CITB, the CIOB, the NFB, the FMB, the Construction Confederation and the Construction Best Practice Programme, with money from the DTI. The CIOB has taken the lead role in co-ordinating and managing it.