BJA - Our Work - Service Excellence and Lean Operations
BRINGING ABOUT CULTURAL CHANGE AND DELIVERING SERVICE EXCELLENCE - Front of House Review
A major museums group was concerned with the way that the service was being delivered, the management structure, the role of the management and staff, the cost and the staffing levels. There was also a £27m refurbishment programme about to taking place which would lead to in effect a new museum. The client wanted the service to reflect the new museum, had major concerns about the role of the staff, visitor experience and the costs. BJA reviewed the complete operation across the Museums Group and developed a new more streamlined management structure including at senior management level within the organisation so that there was ownership for the visitor experience and commercial activity.
BJA developed new roles, objectives and management systems for a streamlined management team and staff, including the development of the innovative role of the 'Museum Host.' BJA became involved with looking at the locations for all the key front of house and commercial services in the planning stage of the refurbishment of the museum. Since the new museum was launched with the new teams in place, the visitor experience has been transformed as has the performance of key commercial activities. The staff and museum are able to make the most of the revenue generation potential in a manner which is keeping with the nature of the museum. The museum is setting the benchmark for the sector in terms of visitor experience and service standards.
FINDING THE RIGHT MANAGEMENT OPTION - Options Appraisal
The client with responsibility for 9 museums, galleries, castles, archives and other attractions with nationally significant collections and buildings, had been making year on year savings, but was still required to deliver some very significant further savings over the next three years. As part of their Fundamental Heritage Review BJA looked and identified the most suitable management and governance options that would achieve the organisation's objectives and the savings needed in the timescales to be met i.e. 'how to deliver more with less.' BJA costed these options and developed a range of business case scenarios for the group of attractions and for each individual site so the client could see the impact on each site of each scenario. As a result the client has been able to to develop a strategy ahead of the budget comprehensive spending review which has more than enabled them to cope with the cuts that are needed and still make significant improvements in service at key venues.
BJA conducted an appraisal for a major seaside authority which needed to make significant savings and was facing major potential service closures. BJA identified the management options, business plans and provide a strategy to meet the financial challenges and to move the service forward in a way which has ensured the sustainability of the venues.
RE-FOCUSING AND ENERGISING THE BUSINESS - Business Review
An important historical venue needed to find a strategy to overcome its declining market and growing deficit. Following a comprehensive review of the operation, the competition and the market, BJA streamlined the business objectives to focus on:
- differentiating itself from its competitors by being a high quality destination attraction
- driving conference and events sales
- providing an entertainments and events programme with a broader appeal to a younger audience
- more emphasis on quality rather than quantity
- setting clear service standards
- putting the management and communication systems in place to improve performance and motivate the whole team
BJA recommended a new much more sales and visitor focused structure and developed an action plan to help with the implementation. BJA's report provided the foundation for fundamental management change and enabled the client to take forward a clear proposal which has attracted £4m of capital investment to improve the venue and help achieve the above goals.
BUSINESS PLANNING AND ORGANISATIONAL REVIEW
A very significant historical building needed to be turned around from a loss making venue into a profitable and self sustainable attraction that can generate sufficient revenue to cover its running costs and deliver enough resources to enable re-investment, further restoration and conservation work to take place.
BJA conducted a comprehensive review looking at all aspects of the marketing, visitor experience, finance and structure of the organisation. BJA provided a business and management plan which within their existing resources:
- Significantly raised the profile the attraction
- Developed joint promotions and marketing initiatives which would increase visitor numbers
- Focused the organisation on practical ways in which they can significantly improve the visitor experience and service in the short and longer term
- Increased the focus on the family offer and delivering an exceptional service
- Identified how to enhance and expand the role of the community and volunteers
- Identified new revenue streams and in particular how to make the most of the commercial potential
- Developed a realistic and achievable business plan which gave the client the confidence they could meet their goals and objectives
- Identified the structure and developed an action plan that was needed to deliver the business and management plan
As a result the client has seen a significant improvement in the service, sales and visitor numbers and the bottom line.
DEVELOPING SERVICE STANDARDS
A leading national organisation with responsibility for the management, conservation and operation of a large number of historic monuments wanted to 'bring about cultural change,' build a more flexible workforce, empower the staff, make significant improvements to the service, the way services are promoted and to maximise revenue generation in a manner which was in keeping with the nature of such a high profile national organisation. As a result BJA led the development of service standards working across all levels within the operation creating a steering group and holding staff workshops to develop a set of SMART service standards which covered all aspects of the visitor experience across all sites. The impact on the service, the staff and sales has been dramatic, with visitor numbers, sales and satisfaction levels having grown significantly.
IMPROVING STANDARDS AND PERFORMANCE - Mystery Shopping, Service / Commercial Audits
For the last five years BJA has worked with this major national museums group who wanted their mystery shopping exercise to go further than providing scores and some top line observations i.e. more akin to a service audit, to measure the standards being achieved for all aspects of the visitor experience and to provide clear, practical observations and recommendations which can help to bring about significant improvement in the service and revenue generation. BJA have provided the client with clear recommendations and solutions to improve the service, standards, sales and make savings. All of the recommendations are practical and many could be implemented easily at little or no additional cost. Each year BJA present to the management teams and as a group discuss and decide where further service improvements can be made across the group and site specifically and develop action plans to achieve these goals.
One of the UK's highest profile and largest city councils had concerns about the standards of service being delivered across their sports and leisure venues and the way the service was structured. BJA were appointed to conduct comprehensive service audits of their six leading flagship wet and dry sports venues across the City. These audits looked at all aspects of the customer experience from telephone enquiries and finding the venues to all aspects of the service within the venues including the the range of programme, how well they promoted the offer both visually and by the staff at each site including city wide services and membership, the utilisation of facilities and the presentation of all areas from changing rooms and pools to visitor orientation and catering. The client was so pleased with BJA's reports that in addition to group wide presentations to service directors and venue managers the report was taken to the Council Executive Management Committee and used as the catalyst for bringing about change; not just operationally but structurally so that the service can be organised and be in the best possible position to deliver service excellence consistently across all sites and to be able to achieve the commercial potential.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT- Interim Management Support
BJA provided senior management cover for a major museums group for a newly created post as Head of Visitor Experience. The client approached BJA to provide this cover as their managers have years of experience gained from working as senior managers at some of the UK's most prestigious venues where they have delivered major programmes of change and improvements in service, standards and the bottom line.
BJA's managers quickly became an integral part of the senior management of the organisation. The manager led the re-structuring of the operation creating a new more streamlined management structure and staff with new roles and objectives for the staff as 'Hosts.' The manager oversaw the development and implementation of service standards across the organisation, helping to also 'bring about cultural change.' He played a lead role in the operational set up and launch leading up to the opening of new £27m of galleries, education, front of house and commercial developments. The manager was so good that the client reached an agreement with BJA to be able to keep the manager on permanently as a part of the Museum's Group senior management team.
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT - Mentoring
BJA provided mentoring for a manager who had been given responsibility for overseeing the operational set up and launch of a major new re-developed museum which was of major significance for the Trust and the region. The mentoring service included:
- Identifying the key objectives, priorities and timescales including the launch of the new museum while not loosing site of the existing venues
- Identifying the standards to be achieved by seeing best practice at other venues
- Project planning
- Regular site visits with the manager
- Reviewing progress, identifying key issues and solutions leading up to the opening
The opening of the Museum was a great success, the star of the show was the operations manager, ensuring that everything was in place, tested and that on the opening day despite high visitor numbers the service was seamless, and that the pr and 'word of mouth' publicity that followed was excellent.
DELIVERING WORLD CLASS SERVICE FROM CONCEPT STAGE TO LAUNCH
While conducting major reviews BJA often become involved in the planning of new developments or advising on changes that need to be made to existing venues to improve the service and sales. For example with one major museum group where a refurbishment had already taking place, BJA advised that some simple changes should be made to the location of the retail outlet to help generate more business. As a result retail sales improved by 40%.
For a major museums group BJA provided advice on the layout of the front entrance and how the service should be delivered including the welcome, visitor orientation, key services that need to be promoted and better locations for catering and retail to improve the service, penetration and sales. BJA then provided advice on the entrance, layout and service delivery for a major new museums education and learning centre
BJA provided the visitor services strategy at the concept stage of a multi million pound visitor centre. This was the first phase of a $1b ski resort which will host the Asian Winter Olympic Games. The strategy covered every aspect of the operation including the overall visitor services objectives and standards; visitors making their way to the centre; the welcome and arrival; the visitor reception services and visitor flow; the retail, catering and events strategy / locations; the operational front of house and back of house implications and all other key back of house visitor service considerations such as cleaning and maintenance.
A client was concerned that a £45m major regional and national arts venue was not going to be ready to open on time. With eight weeks to opening BJA worked with the client and the management team and ensured that all aspects of visitor services / the operation were ready, staffed and opened on time with greater control of the costs and in a better position to deliver a quality service and make more from the commercial and visitor services activity.
ACHIEVING THE RETAIL POTENTIAL - Retail Reviews
When BJA started the client was recruiting a retail general manager. Before this post was filled the client required a number of highly practical tasks:
- Assessing the existing stock and finding ways of realising value from old, largely 'redundant' items
- Re-merchandising the shop for a Christmas opening
- Sourcing new stock, both for Christmas trading and for the new visitor season
- Providing benchmarking advice to help assess what was a realistic target for shop sales and gross profit margins
- Looking at the existing stock control system and making recommendations
- Discussing with senior management the potential for long term strategic changes with the operation
The aim was to provide a solid base for the new manager to work from and then to provide the new post holder with training and support across a variety of issues. The result was a very successful Christmas trading period and a much firmer foundation on which to enter the main visitor season. BJA were able to provide strategic advise allied to highly practical 'hands on' work to implement real change.
EXCEEDING VISITOR NUMBER TARGETS - Marketing Strategy
BJA worked with a small independent charitable museum to develop a marketing strategy and marketing plan. The strategy focused on: improving the visibility of the location; reflecting in all the publicity material and signage the Museum's programming work which was broadening and diversifying the audience; and developed strategies to help improve secondary spend areas further. The strategy included providing a more contemporary feel to all the marketing and signage, while at the same time remembering its role and unique position in the market i.e. local history. The strategy and plan contributed to visitor numbers being 46% ahead of the previous year and forecasts having to be revised upwards.