Delivering on Nuclear Industry Projects

Winning a PBO contract presents an enormous challenge. You have to meet the expectation your bid team has created while delivering work faster, cheaper and safer than ever before. And if that’s not hard enough, you have just five years to prove you can make a real difference and win that crucial contract renewal.

Acorn understands what it takes to make an impact on project delivery. We have a 10-year track record with partnerships and multi-agency teams in construction, heavy engineering and technology sectors. Working closely with clients such as Kvaerner, Carillion and GlaxoSmithKline, has allowed us to build a repertoire of skills and experience to enhance management team effectiveness, instil new cultures and leadership skills, and work through inevitable conflicts and pressures.

Our involvement helps turn the bid vision into a profitable and reputation-enhancing reality through:

  • Managing transition to achieve quick wins
  • Winning hearts and minds in the SLC
  • Generating client confidence in capability and approach
  • Ensuring continued productive dialogue and relationship with the NDA

Hit the ground running

Our programme of support begins with an honest and impartial assessment of the situation. This allows us to consider the dynamics of multi-agency and partnership organisations inserted into legacy cultures and hierarchies:
  • Cultural compatibility
  • Clarity of vision and levels of buy-in to change
  • Quality of communication and interaction
  • Functioning and distribution of roles and responsibilities
  • Levels of trust and respect impacting on working relationships
  • Team climate, confidence, motivation and change capability


Acting early on the assessment results will maximise the value to be gained from the transition process and increase the capability to deliver on the promise.

Fast, simple, focused and effective

The assessment results will establish a prioritised list of development objectives for the management teams within the SLC, the PBO leadership team and the wider organisation. We can design and deliver tailored programmes to meet the identified needs, for example:

Team coaching of:
  • the PBO leadership team to promote a co-ordinated influence on the organisation and a cohesive response to conflicts of interes
  • PBO secondees to fast-track integration in departmental structures and catalyse their influence on those teams
  • key functions in the SLC to optimise the conditions for growth of innovation, problem-solving and ‘can do’ attitude


One-to-one coaching to support:
  • PBO personnel to accelerate the building of relationships, credibility and influence in the SLC
  • PBO personnel to maintain motivation and focus in the face of a steep learning curve and long term challenge
  • key SLC personnel to be change enablers and respond positively to PBO challenge


Facilitated workshops and conferences for:

  • bridging and melding management cultures
  • identifying, defining and communicating cultural development required to transform performance
  • initiating large roll-out culture change programmes


Using the initial assessments as a benchmark, the process can demonstrate measurable improvement in key, delivery-critical areas. Periodic review can ensure that PBO influence remains on track and is responding to pressures or difficulties encountered as the contract progresses.

Make a positive difference

Translation of leadership vision into operational reality is a huge challenge. The success of a PBO is uniquely vulnerable to the less tangible factors in organisational effectiveness: culture, styles and relationships. Acorn’s involvement at transition is an investment that can make all the difference.

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