Latest / Project Podcast / Senior leader interview: Craig Hatch, Tetra Tech UK

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Senior leader interview: Craig Hatch, Tetra Tech UK · Project Podcast

0:13
Hello and welcome to the IPM podcast.
0:15
Brought to you by the childhood body for the project profession
0:18
in 2022, a PM has been celebrating its 50th
0:22
Anniversary. So throughout the year apm's
0:24
chief executive Professor Adam bothersome has hosted a special
0:28
series of episodes reflecting. On both the past and future of
0:31
the project profession in this series.
0:34
Professor ball, Dustin has been in conversation with senior
0:36
leaders from the world of projects across industry and
0:39
government who have shared their career Journeys and advice as
0:43
well as predictions for how the profession might evolve in this
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episode Professor Burleson meets Craig hatch, president at Tetra
0:50
Tech, UK Tetra Tech is a global technology environmental and
0:55
management consultancy with over 20,000 employees worldwide.
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It's a pair discuss, the need for greater inclusivity in the
1:02
profession, the state of project expertise at c-suite level and
1:06
the importance of delivering long-term value to communities
1:10
through projects. Well, good morning Craig and
1:18
thank you very much for joining us on the podcast today.
1:21
It's a real pleasure to have you with us.
1:23
We've got a series of discussion points for today really, but
1:28
let's start. I think by talking a little bit
1:31
about Tetra Tech and I wonder if you could give us a bit of
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background into Tetra Tech and explain what makes it unique may
1:39
be compared with other project delivery organizations.
1:42
Ins that operate in the same space.
1:45
Good morning Adam. Thank you for that.
1:46
I say, it's a privilege to be here.
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Tetra Tech is one of the world's leading Global Technical
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environmental and management consultancies, with 22,000 of
1:57
the smartest people on the planet who lead with science to
2:01
solve our clients complex problems.
2:04
The uniqueness of our business is that we're all we are led by
2:07
technical people who have developed through our company.
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Our leadership are fully aligned and Our business model, simple.
2:14
We focus on clients and projects and developing great people to
2:17
deliver those great projects within the UK.
2:21
We can draw upon the Tetra Tech part of the business, but also
2:25
on our sister companies like Hawley Norman Disney and young
2:31
Tetra Tech International Development and we have
2:33
ambitious plans to further expand to become one of the UK
2:36
and Europe stock consultancies. Well I mean it's interesting to
2:40
put you in making about being led by science and being led by
2:43
technical expertise in the organization because one of the
2:46
things I often hear when I'm out and about talking to people is
2:51
that the project profession is seen as a very technical
2:54
profession, but that the balance between project profession has
2:58
been technical versus strategic is Shifting.
3:01
And I wondered whether you were seeing that at all in Tetra
3:03
Tech, Yeah, I mean when we refer to leader with science it's
3:08
science in its biggest area, really yo, so science.
3:12
Overseeing everything. So everything that we do in our
3:17
Technical and management delivery is linked to the
3:19
science, is linked to having smart people in diverse ways.
3:26
So sometimes it's technical people, sometimes it's people
3:29
with broader P EQ skills that are able to sort of Help and
3:35
provide the the overarching management that's required to
3:40
deliver the complex projects that we, we have and our clients
3:44
need delivering. Yeah, thank you.
3:46
And it's important that you make about EQ, as well, but because I
3:49
remember reading it was a report from McKinsey about six months
3:54
ago and he talked about the two, fastest growing areas of skills
3:58
development, that leaders were investing in.
4:00
And one of them was project management and the other one was
4:02
emotional intelligence, which I thought was Quite interesting.
4:06
So, look in terms of the profession more broadly, what
4:09
would you say the main priorities and challenges faced
4:12
in the project profession I'm thinking particularly here in
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terms of social mobility and the and the reason I ask that is
4:18
because I've I often think about the profession as a kind of
4:22
catalyst for social Mobility because you can almost come into
4:26
it, any point in your kind of career Journey.
4:28
But that, but that diversity itself.
4:30
Adds value to project outcomes as well.
4:34
I'm just interested what you think the priorities and
4:36
challenges are in that context. I agree.
4:40
I any qualities. Remain a major factor in our
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industry. In the project profession, we
4:47
need to ensure that everyone is given a chance to be part of our
4:51
Organization, no matter the individual or social background,
4:55
and where they enter equal and inclusive opportunities.
4:59
With strong, internal governance for decision-making, using
5:03
diverse panels, and Equitable decision making, we have
5:09
targeted Recruitment and and build relationships across
5:11
schools, colleges further education and universities
5:15
across the varying demographics. Not just the top performing
5:19
ones. And then once we have colleagues
5:23
in our organization, we have targeted mentoring with the, we
5:28
have our own mentoring program along with good policies, that
5:31
sort of make it real live the values that we set.
5:34
Ensure that everyone could be their true self and best self at
5:38
work and allow the development to occur.
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And if we get that right, it means we have broader diversity
5:44
of thought, at all levels of our business, that help us deliver
5:47
our projects in the right way. That sounds excellent.
5:50
And clearly there's a lot that you're doing there in terms of
5:53
both within your organization and through the partnership's
5:56
that you have. But what about when it comes to
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the the places where your projects are actually taking
6:02
place in the communities that those projects are Taking place
6:05
in. How do you approach the
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challenge their of delivery, in kind of real long-term value to
6:10
those communities. Yeah, that's that's really
6:14
important to our business model. We are a global organization
6:19
with 450 offices, around the world, and a big part of what we
6:26
try to do is provide value in the communities that we live and
6:29
work. There's nothing more rewarding
6:31
for that are at the people. All business to deliver a great
6:36
project locally. So whilst we do make commitments
6:40
through social value that public procurement requires in tenders
6:43
and Frameworks. That's not the only measure that
6:46
we make. We embed that in our values.
6:50
It's probably important to know the, whilst the pandemic has
6:53
accelerated. Flexible and agile working,
6:56
meaning teams can be better, connected remotely.
6:59
I think their remains value you and satisfaction in local teams
7:03
delivering successful. It's in the local community and
7:06
I guess being on the ground in a local community, gives you a
7:09
real firsthand insight and experience are supposed to be
7:13
able to adapt up the project delivery to make sure it really
7:18
works those communities? Yeah, absolutely.
7:21
Yeah, okay. Brilliant sustainability then.
7:25
Because let's talk about that because this is something that I
7:29
hear everywhere, everybody's talking about sustainability.
7:32
But what's interesting is, when you kind of I'm kind of peel the
7:35
surface away of that conversation.
7:37
It means quite different things in different organizations.
7:40
So, for example, when I talk to those who are very heavily
7:43
involved in, just construction, for example, you know, they're
7:46
talking about Innovations, like green concrete and this type of
7:50
thing. But I know that Tetra sex work
7:53
is very broad. I'm really interested to
7:55
understand what sustainability means from a Tetra Tech context
8:00
and how that works sustainability is at the heart
8:03
of everything that That we do, we made our 2022 to
8:08
sustainability report that we released on Earth Day on April
8:13
22nd. We reaffirmed our commitment to
8:15
creating more resilient and sustainable communities.
8:19
The report includes new Baseline sustainability, metrics for 2021
8:25
interim targets for 20-25 and new goals for 2030.
8:29
And if you take it right back to our company's initiation in
8:33
1966, I'll focus on sustainability began then and we
8:38
continue to support clients to develop innovative solutions,
8:41
using our leading with sites approach, and that improves
8:44
lives worldwide. The environmental social, and
8:48
government government ESG principles.
8:50
We apply to our projects are reinforced our commitment to the
8:53
UN Global impact and sites Bates targets initiative in 2021.
9:00
We share the results of our first decade of sustainability
9:02
reporting with the even significantly beyond our
9:06
original aspirations and that continues to grow.
9:09
But we recognize this still work to be done and we're pleased to
9:12
share our Baseline goals for a new decade of tracking for our
9:16
sustainability progress, we've established our Baseline
9:20
greenhouse gas emissions, scope 1 and 2 and Target Productions
9:24
and report on these through a carbon reduction plan and we
9:27
made a big commitment. And you know what?
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I talked about it being part of our ethos, we've committed to
9:33
improving the lives of 1 billion.
9:34
People globally through the projects that involve
9:37
sustainable Water Supplies. Reducing carbon emissions,
9:40
generating neural energy, and supporting social, and
9:43
governance programs. We have a wide range of projects
9:47
Fallen under the sustainability. Banner things like greenhouse
9:50
gas reduction, strategies, sustainable, buildings and
9:53
infrastructure. Renewable energy projects flood
9:56
risk and release schemes Energy, Efficiency, Management Systems,
10:00
ESG environmental due diligence and then in the UK, We've
10:05
specifically have examples of that.
10:07
So sustainability report in supporting for radioactive waste
10:11
management team Regional Green Technology, scoping report for
10:15
invest Northern Ireland, hydrogen Hub, study for me
10:19
Denise, tantrum District Council Darby.
10:21
Riverside, we're undertaking a flood alleviation project.
10:24
Led by Dolby city council partnership with the environment
10:27
agency and we are appointed to design one, half kilometers of
10:31
flood, Defence to reduce flooding to the north of the
10:33
city. We have a large number of Priam
10:36
dhyryam and sequel assessments and our, high-performing
10:40
buildings group are involved in designing some of the planets,
10:43
greenest buildings. Well, I think just well really
10:47
the, the volume and complexity of the different work amount of
10:51
work that you're doing in that space is very significant and
10:54
the thing that really struck me there, as you were talking was
10:58
what you said about the about the kind of benefits realization
11:02
piece. I think there's one was it 1
11:04
billion? People globally that you wanted
11:05
to make a difference for? Yeah, I don't our Target.
11:08
Yeah. You know, and it really just
11:11
shifts. The focus, doesn't it?
11:13
It's not just about we've delivered our project on time
11:17
and on budget. It's actually that long-term
11:19
benefits realization piece which I really like.
11:22
As part of the focus that you've got that.
11:24
Yeah. And we're measuring ourselves
11:25
against that Adam. It is something that we're
11:27
taking very seriously, and we're measuring ourselves our progress
11:30
on that. Yeah.
11:31
No, that's brilliant and let's talk about the c-suite.
11:35
I sometimes Grumble a bit about the c-suite and that's because
11:41
in some organizations, what I see is they've got really
11:44
capable project professionals kind of across the organization
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and then I look at what's happening in the c-suite and you
11:50
don't see that always replicated.
11:53
And so sometimes I see projects not being as effectively
11:58
delivered as they could be because there isn't that
12:00
sufficient knowledge and understanding at the c-suite
12:03
level. And I'm just interested to know
12:07
how significant the expertise is that, you've got to see Suite
12:10
level in Tetra Tech book, do you have any Reflections on my, my
12:13
grumbles? If you like more broadly about
12:16
the profession, Yeah, I think they're legitimate grumbles
12:20
Adam. But as previously mentioned, I
12:24
think quite uniquely for a company of our scale and breadth
12:28
of our executive leadership across all our operations,
12:32
without exception are exclusively developed from
12:35
within people that have been through the business have
12:39
delivered projects and provided high-level technical delivery to
12:43
our clients within my own UK operating unit.
12:48
I remain close to our project delivery through governance
12:51
reviews and the fair amount of time with project teams and we
12:55
have a weekly high-performing project management team meeting
12:59
for each area of the business. I'm joined on those by Tetra.
13:04
Tech chief engineer, dr. Bill Brownlee, from Pasadena,
13:07
who leads our company, project management Excellence
13:10
initiative, training our teams around the globe.
13:14
And I fully expect not just myself, but my team of managing
13:18
actors in each of our business units to understand their
13:21
projects efficiently to effectively incorporate the
13:24
role. That I know that's something
13:25
that APM promote is that of a CP 0 and to take that role on
13:30
within their area of the business.
13:33
Yeah well I'm really pleased you mentioned that that kind of CPR
13:35
that the chief project office or sometimes CTO Chief
13:39
transformation officer in some organizations as well.
13:42
I mean my sense of all of this is that if you were kind of
13:45
Designing a Ste sweet from scratch I do wonder whether some
13:50
of the roles that are traditionally associated with
13:52
seats. We've let the CEO.
13:53
For example, would those roles really exist in a kind of in
13:58
this new world? I think they exist from being a,
14:00
because of a legacy perspective situation, wouldn't anything
14:04
else but I do wonder whether that would that would change.
14:09
Okay? So yeah, that's that's a sweet.
14:10
It's a really, really interesting.
14:12
But one of the regular features of this podcast at Craig is that
14:17
we get People who are obviously in really interesting and Senior
14:20
roles like yourself and people always ask me how do these
14:25
people get to that point in their career.
14:28
It's not something you kind of can plan I guess right?
14:31
From the outset and say look I want to be the president of
14:34
Tetra Tech by 2022. Or you know, it, I guess there
14:38
are kind of decisions that you make along the way they've
14:40
gotten to that point. I wonder if you could tell us a
14:42
bit about your journey, how you discovered the project
14:45
profession and some of those early Career decisions that you
14:49
made, which were may be pivotal to getting you to this Stellar
14:52
position that you're in now. Yes, thank you definitely not a
14:57
plan although I'm pleased with the outcome.
15:01
I'm pleased with the way that things have worked their way
15:04
through. But like many of us at senior
15:06
levels in our profession, I've had a diverse journey to my
15:10
current role started. My career in a private practice
15:14
SME which vary between 25 and 40 people private partnership.
15:20
And I spent the first 15 years of my career in there and it'll
15:24
pass As sort of operations director for that business.
15:28
But you know, I started as a trainee qsr at the age of 19
15:32
before, also qualifying as a chartered building surveyor and
15:36
going it alone with my own private practice for a while for
15:40
personal reasons. I then spent a few years working
15:43
in technical management within the charitable sector something.
15:47
I wanted to do for the greater good.
15:50
But then join the world of big multi-service consultancy around
15:54
about Years ago, it's 20 years, in January, actually my work
15:58
over those 20 years, has involved a diverse combination
16:02
of projects and business management of major projects and
16:06
programs across multiple. Sectors are really interesting
16:10
range of things that I've done and I managed to progress my
16:12
career. Sort of year-on-year through
16:15
that to the role that I'm currently doing when Tetra Tech
16:19
was acquired acquired wi Gene, 2019.
16:23
I was part of the senior. Bishop team that came across
16:25
with W YG and I fitted the model of operational leadership within
16:29
Tetra Tech. You know, I'd come through
16:32
various grades. I joined a senior level and that
16:35
work my way through to managing director and that fitted the
16:38
model of operational leadership that we have in Tetra Tech
16:41
around the globe. I understand what we deliver and
16:45
therefore sort of fulfill the role of both CEO and so a CO o
16:50
in being close to what we actually operate, what we
16:53
deliver So and when test check acquired in 2019, I became Great
17:00
Britain MD in 2020 and became UK president in 2021.
17:06
Well, it's a very inspiring story and I'm sure I'm sure
17:09
people will take a lot away from that.
17:11
And you've led me nicely on Craig to talk about leadership
17:15
because one iíve been involved in this profession now for only
17:19
about 15 months. And one of the misconceptions
17:23
that I hear from those, Outside of the profession is they say
17:27
but you know projects isn't that just good leadership?
17:31
You know is that not all? You need to lead a project good
17:33
leadership so I'm interested to know how you would Define good
17:36
project leadership. And do you think there's any
17:38
difference between the kind of leadership qualities required
17:42
for project leadership? And those required of leaders
17:45
can have more broadly Yeah, I've always seen the good project
17:53
leaders have the same credentials as good leaders or
17:56
Business Leaders and we promote and support people that, you
18:00
know, show that strong project leadership.
18:03
And therefore they, they can become Business Leaders in our
18:06
business, because there are obvious synergies in skill, set
18:09
around EQ, which mentioned previously rather than purely
18:12
IQ. You know, everybody in our
18:14
business has a strong IQ, but at two different levels, different
18:18
Disciplines the EQ becomes more important in that business
18:21
leadership but the key requirements I see around good
18:25
project leadership are the ability to manage complex
18:29
working and organizational environments mainly around that
18:34
you know the need to require the management of change is the key
18:39
element and that's what I look for in a good project leader its
18:43
Association for project management.
18:45
We know your most important project is your career but As a
18:48
project manager, it's not always easy to make project me happen.
18:52
That's where our membership can help.
18:55
We offer exclusive training qualifications and learning
18:58
resources to keep your development on track.
19:01
Join our 35,000 members and become part of the only charted
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Open up your future AT AP, m dot org.uk.
19:12
Right so tractor check the significant size and scale of
19:18
operation that you're running and one of the challenges of
19:22
that of course is how you remain kind of nimble and adaptive
19:27
particularly when the world is changing Pace.
19:29
If anything in the past few years of accelerated, the pace
19:32
of change of the kind of operating environment and the
19:34
trends and so on, how does Tetra Tech can have make sure that it
19:38
stays ahead of the curve and and ready to embrace.
19:42
That the water changes. As as operational leaders in our
19:47
business, we all understand the importance of delivering quality
19:51
products to our clients. That's our starting premise,
19:53
that's what we're about as a business.
19:55
And that means that we are in touch with what is required and
19:59
what is changing. We are encouraged to continue
20:02
our personal development through coaching and training.
20:06
The pandemic was new for all of us, but as a business, we were
20:09
able to show our ability and Agility and making fast-moving
20:13
decisions that benefit. Fitted, our clients and our
20:16
colleagues. And since then the pace of
20:20
change, hasn't slowed down, it continues to accelerate.
20:24
We have a shortage of skills in some of our areas of work.
20:28
So, you know, we've looked to bring in industry-leading
20:30
flexible and agile, working Arrangements, parenting and
20:34
carers support menopause policies and many other ways of
20:37
solving that challenge to make as the employer of choice.
20:41
So we've had to move quickly to get people who want to come
20:44
into. Business for a career, not just
20:46
not just a job. So we keep people long-term.
20:50
It is a challenging environment, geopolitics and UK politics are
20:54
challenging at the moment. But we look to ensure that we
20:57
are always looking forward. We spend the time to do that
21:00
investing in the right areas, which is predominately our
21:03
people and positively reacting to the changes required and the
21:09
the key kind of take away from me.
21:11
And all of that is you're being really proactive as an
21:13
organization. That's what it sounds like.
21:14
It's the rather than waiting for things to happen.
21:16
You're really kind of pushing the boundaries, so what can we
21:19
do to to make sure we're ahead of the game with this and that
21:22
sounds brilliant? One of the things I hear when I
21:26
talk to are in a 500-plus corporate Partners, but we're
21:30
almost without exception, actually, is that there's a kind
21:33
of War on Talent happening at the moment that, you know, there
21:36
just aren't enough project management professionals out
21:40
there to meet the scale of demand for project delivery.
21:44
That exists. And, you know, I think you were
21:48
talking about 22,000 employees that are in your organization
21:51
and I wondered if you might say a little bit about how you, how
21:54
you go about recruiting, really high-quality talented, in that
21:58
kind of environment. Yeah, yeah.
22:03
Simply by concentrating on the Simplicity of our outwardly
22:07
complex business. So when I describe what we did,
22:09
it sounds really complex but everything we do revolves around
22:14
delivering projects that solve our clients problems.
22:17
And to do that, we need great well-qualified project managers
22:21
alongside technical colleagues. So we look to work on the best
22:25
and most exciting projects that are aligned to our corporate.
22:29
Goals, we're continually looking to diversify that portfolio of
22:33
Works to ensure RPMs can experience breadth and depth of
22:37
experience across many sectors and that attracts and retains
22:41
them in our business. Alongside that we have
22:44
engagement across industry through the a p.m. through
22:47
universities schools and other associations to drive interest
22:51
interest and showcase Tetra Tech and the opportunities that we
22:55
have we're engaged through industry at events.
22:59
Thought leadership, but the best outcome of all is ensuring.
23:02
We deliver good. High-quality work, delivering
23:05
valuable outcomes, which increases our reputation, that's
23:08
how we will make sure that we ensure that pipeline of p.m.
23:12
Talent, you know, that makes sense.
23:14
And you kind of reference a little bit there about the kind
23:17
of development aspect of that one's that one's the project
23:19
managers are with you. You're obviously in in the
23:24
business of Kenneth multiple professions so you've got the
23:27
project management profession you.
23:29
And CIO be earlier on, you've obviously got you know,
23:32
technical people in terms of the engineering space and
23:35
architecture space and everything else.
23:37
I mean how do you how do you balance the kind of development
23:41
of so many different areas and in particular?
23:43
What are your expectations as an organization for the kinds of
23:46
qualifications and skills that your your colleagues need to
23:51
have a different point through their Journey?
23:53
Yeah, I think it's recognizing the differences that are
23:57
required so Sonia. We do that through targeted and
24:01
continued investment in our people.
24:02
That the only thing that we have is people, so if we don't invest
24:07
in their Mark, you know, our product will go down.
24:09
So we recognize that and invest heavily in our people.
24:13
Technical Excellence is really important.
24:16
Professional development. Underpins our people strategy,
24:19
we have a series of technical development, roadmaps built.
24:23
So each one of us Twenty-seven disciplines.
24:26
And this provides a clear demarcated route through the
24:29
grades, within our business aligned to professional bodies,
24:32
qualifications and a path to Charter ship and fellowship.
24:37
We have a business focused on strong project management.
24:41
Every one of our colleagues in all disciplines has a base level
24:46
of project management training and those responsible for
24:49
leading projects have what we call level to project management
24:53
training. That they undertake on a block.
24:55
Release course delivered by dr. Bill Brownlee are the chief
24:58
engineer along with other members of our UK Senior Team.
25:03
That's brilliant. I my, I look forward to the day
25:06
when we have youngsters who are not even in the profession yet.
25:11
And you know what I do for my career, what I really want to do
25:14
is to become a chartered project professional in the same way,
25:17
they would further chartered professions.
25:19
I think they'll be great when that happens.
25:23
But and talking about Young people.
25:24
Of course there will be those who are either.
25:28
Just just just left school and thinking about what they want to
25:30
do or those who are career Changers, maybe and really
25:34
thinking about whether the project profession is a
25:38
profession for them and going on that kind of career journey.
25:42
And what advice would you give for somebody who is thinking
25:46
about the profession and whether it's right for them?
25:50
Yeah, it's a really interesting question.
25:52
Adam and young people. Aspire to be part of what they
26:03
were where they work and where they want to be.
26:06
And having started as a trainee myself, the equivalent, today's
26:09
apprentices I didn't really know where my career would take me.
26:14
So my advice to anybody entering our profession would be choose
26:20
the right path, but be flexible along the way that certainly
26:23
helped me. Always be honest and take
26:27
support. That is off.
26:28
Offered, you will be offered support along the way, make use
26:31
of that. People that have been there and
26:33
done it. You can take things from them,
26:36
work for an organization that shares your values and I think
26:39
the youngsters today, get that more than I did 30 odd years
26:44
ago, I think they want an organization that shares their
26:47
values that will make you happier at work and then talk
26:52
about sort of qualifications, you know I joined at 19 I follow
26:55
through on commitments and qualifications.
26:58
Aim to be a chartered professional.
27:00
I think that, you know, that is the ultimate place in our
27:04
industry where we want people to be.
27:06
I undertook a lot of my professional qualifications
27:09
whilst an employment and on although it was tough at the
27:12
time, I've always felt the value of doing that.
27:14
So work hard, but be flexible and make the most of the
27:19
opportunities as they come along.
27:21
Some excellent advice that and I really like the dimension of
27:25
apprenticeships there, as well. Because I think sometimes,
27:28
Oppressed people not everybody's understood that apprenticeships
27:32
now are not the same as what an apprenticeship was 10 years ago.
27:35
It's very, very different now and it is a genuine alternative.
27:41
I think an alternative pathway into the profession in a way
27:43
that didn't exist before. So I'm really pleased that you
27:47
mentioned that great. So thank you for that, you know,
27:50
talking back in the past and present that, you know, be it,
27:53
the project manager role, you know, has changed a lot if I
27:57
think about 50 years ago. Go to today and I just wondered
28:00
what you thought the most important skills and traits for
28:04
a modern project manager. Yeah, I think it's a difficult
28:14
combination to be a really great project manager.
28:17
It's a combination of great organizational skills but
28:21
aligned with agility skills that are not always compatible with
28:26
in people. But the best project managers
28:28
exhibit that you know a good project manager structured, but
28:31
able to flex and a key element also is inability to manage the
28:38
many different stakeholders that you get on a major project.
28:43
Yeah, you know, Noah says it comes back to your complexity
28:46
Point again, doesn't it? You know the so many moving
28:49
parts now, it's it's not just the simple kind of, you know,
28:54
start to finish it. It does at the second of
28:56
bandwidth that's needed almost to, to take on some of these
28:59
roles. But what about it Edie?
29:04
And I so equality, diversity and inclusion.
29:07
You've kind of referenced it several times to our
29:10
conversation today in terms of some of the work you've been
29:13
Internally. But I wanted for my to
29:15
specifically talk about the the representation of women and
29:20
minorities within the project Workforce because some of the
29:23
sectors that traditionally associated with the project
29:26
profession have been quite male dominated and not necessarily
29:30
ethnically diverse either. I think that is changing but I
29:34
wonder how Tetra Tech was approaching that that challenge
29:40
Yeah, so I mentioned when we're talking about young people about
29:43
being aligned with the values of a business and that was one of
29:47
the things that I noticed when I first came into Tetra Tech is
29:50
that they are very strong in. We refer to it as D and I Dia
29:56
and so globally. We have a deai council with
30:00
various employee resource groups to support women minorities in
30:07
our business. Because we want to have, as
30:09
Versus a Workforce as we can to get the benefit as a business to
30:13
have the best people possible that we can have that deliver
30:18
our leading, the science approach.
30:20
So we've created a ERG groups for a send for our pan-Asian
30:26
colleagues, believe the black colleagues.
30:28
We've got our professional women's Network, we've got acute
30:31
for veterans. That would that we have a strong
30:35
element in our business, we have Tetra.
30:37
Pride, we have voice Is for Latino and Hispanic colleagues.
30:42
And our latest Global glue group with a disability Focus, which
30:47
we haven't named yet and it will have a name in time and I'm
30:50
involved in the the launching of that on a global basis.
30:53
And and within the UK, we have our own EDI team with subsets of
30:57
the main ERG. And we have chairs of those
31:00
groups that feed into the Global Group and they oversee a breadth
31:04
of initiatives and awareness sessions within our UK
31:07
operation. We've set ourselves, a target of
31:10
25% representation by 2025, across all areas of our
31:15
business, we have diverse panels for decision-making in
31:19
Recruitment and c-suite decisions are made via the DIY
31:24
panel when whenever we can really but whenever necessary.
31:29
So, you know, as I say, I talked about aligning values with who
31:33
you work for, you know, our commitment to EDI absolutely
31:35
aligned in my own values and the commercial value that we get is
31:39
Diverse Workforce, who can all be safe to be their best selves
31:43
at work. Not that sounds brilliant.
31:45
One of the things I've been picking up on, is this shift
31:49
cultural shift? I suppose at described it as
31:51
which is, yes, inclusion is great, but belonging is better
31:57
and, and that sense of how do we move kind of on from having
32:03
strategies and so on to help people feel included in the
32:06
workplace actually help, what, help helping people to feel that
32:09
they They belong there and I think that's a really welcome
32:12
next stage in that kind of inclusion Journey.
32:15
If I think of it in that way, I don't do that.
32:17
Then if that's something you've heard anything about before.
32:20
Yeah. Absolutely resonates.
32:22
I've noted that I like the term belonging.
32:25
That's exactly what we're looking for for people within
32:28
our business. Yeah, I mean I can't claim the
32:30
credit for it myself, Craig. It's something I've been hearing
32:32
about myself and about I think it's actually something that's
32:36
coming from the states. The u.s.
32:39
In terms of in terms of the the language there but also the
32:43
concept and I think it's a really helpful okay and final
32:49
part of our discussion now really but it really interested
32:52
to know a little bit more about the growing importance of data
32:56
analytics and artificial intelligence because that
32:59
transparency of Supply chains and how data is used
33:02
particularly at senior levels to make strategic decisions on what
33:07
are quite complex. And Abroad problems from, you
33:10
know project sorry from what you've talked about.
33:14
I'm just interested to know how Tetra Tech's use of data is
33:18
changing given the kind of growing role of AI.
33:24
Yeah, day trying to lytx is extremely important to senior
33:29
level decision-making. Absolutely fundamental.
33:32
It allows decision makers like myself to review live up to date
33:38
project data, analyze performance across, various kpis
33:42
and make informed decisions to assist our people projects.
33:45
And clients data is allowing us to see the ability to make
33:50
intervention sooner on Troublesome issues and Allowing
33:54
them to propagate and cause delay which in turn leads to
33:58
overspend or or other issues on a project relationship issues on
34:03
a project data analytics and AI is allowing us to digitize our
34:07
systems building tools and processes that drive
34:11
efficiencies for our people doing things quicker and in turn
34:15
driving, better margins for our projects, making us more
34:17
competitive and allowing our clients to deliver more
34:20
affordably. So passing that down through
34:22
clients with intent, Attack. We have a suite of Technologies
34:26
under our Banner of Tetra Tech Delta.
34:29
The premise behind this is implementing a global digital
34:32
differentiation strategy for our services to move as ahead of
34:37
others in our industry, in the markets that we choose to work
34:41
in. No, no that's excellent.
34:44
And we haven't actually having a conversation with somebody
34:46
yesterday about the importance of empathy for project
34:53
professionals and you You referred to it earlier on when
34:55
you were talking about the kind of EQ side of things and there
34:59
is no came up in the context of artificial intelligence as
35:02
people were saying look it doesn't matter how good a I get
35:05
it's never going to be as good as humans are as empathy which
35:10
you know it's probably a point for debate but by the point that
35:13
was being made there was, you know we're always going to need
35:17
really high quality people to accompany whatever AI or data
35:22
that we've got and empathy. Is just one aspect of that which
35:25
I thought was really interesting observation.
35:27
Yeah, fully agree. Okay.
35:29
Well look, I think that brings us to the end of our discussion.
35:32
Craig, I've really enjoyed the discussion and I hope those
35:36
listening of got some good insights now into into Tetra
35:39
Tech. I've certainly learned a lot.
35:41
So, you know, thank you very much for giving up your time
35:44
this morning and thank you to all of the project Professionals
35:47
in your organization who are doing such a great job.
35:51
As you, as you say to help those 1 billion people.
35:54
Really benefit from projects and thank you crave for today.
35:58
Thank you. Adam been a pleasure.
36:04
Thank you for listening to this episode of the APM podcast.
36:07
If you have any feedback or suggestions for topics, you'd
36:10
like to hear us discuss in the podcast, get in touch at a p.m.
36:14
podcast at think publishing. .Co.uk OPM, is the charter body
36:19
for the project profession. For more information visit a
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