Lessons for How We Work from Mini Switzerland

Mini Switzerland now being delivered is a source of pride for me. This entire project came out of an idea I had while on holiday with my daughter. You can see the LinkedIn post that started the whole thing here.

It’s not just a source of pride because I’m passionately committed to better public transport and I want to see this kind of project happen.

It’s also a source of pride because we’ve been able, through this project, to role-model a different way of working.

This post is about how we’ve worked as a volunteer team and what lessons we can offer for the wider public transport sector.

A small, multi-disciplinary team

Amazon calls them “Pizza teams”. Their view is that a project should not be delivered by more people than can share a large pizza. Truthfully, I’ve never shared a pizza with the Mini Switzerland project team. I suspect Matt Harrison’s a greedy bastard, so I’m not sure we hit the target. But even if we can’t find a pizza the size of a tractor wheel, we’re pretty close.

This team is multi-disciplinary. Each of us has a different, defined role on the team. We’re clear on what our responsibilities to the project are. Almost everything that’s been needed has come from within the team.

This is often the case: the reason why project teams in public transport end up sprawling is not that more people are needed to do the work, but because there’s a perceived need to consult or because people self-recruit (and then exercise self-given vetos).

Create an operating norm where you work that the smallest number of people possible will work with maximum accountability.

Leadership

The project had clear leadership. It’s worked as a partnership between me and Roger Clarke, Trustee of Hope Valley Climate Action, the organisation in the Peak District that responded to my LinkedIn post and with whom I’ve worked ever since. Roger was CEO of YHA and Chair of Friends of the Earth, so is an experienced leader.

We divided the project into national and local.

I’ve been in charge of national: raising awareness, working with DfT and national stakeholders plus building the volunteer team. I’ve also been the guardian of the Mini Switzerland vision.

Roger has been in charge local: working with the County Council, National Park, local stakeholders in the Hope Valley and has been the guardian of a service that meets local needs.

The relationship with EMCCA is at the crossroads of the two, so Roger and I always liaise before speaking with them. But, otherwise, we both have total autonomy to get on and do what needs to be done (and lead other members of the team) in our domains. That’s meant we can be proactive and responsive but also maintain a cohesive project.

Voluntary

"A volunteer is worth twenty pressed men" is a well-known proverb. It’s also true.

One of the mistakes most corporates make is forcing people to do work they don’t want to do, while preventing them from doing the work they do want to do. I wrote in some detail about this phenomenon here, and on what can be done about it. Read this post, then come back to this one.

It’s much more sensible to allow people to set their own work.

The Mini Switzerland project has so far generated:

A transport plan from Nigel Hutton that took the mini Switzerland concept and transformed it into practical deliverables
A behaviour change plan from Charlie Nichols on how to ensure it is used
A financial model (in progress) from Wiktor Woszczek
An economic case (in progress) from Omer Bar
A detailed report written by me
A beautiful brochure, compelling report design and press release by Matt Harrison

Anne Robinson has spent hours talking to key stakeholders and in relevant committee meetings. Roger and I have spent even more hours with politicians, officers and officials. John Bickerton has been liaising with operators. Anshel Cohen has pulled it all together.

With the exception of Nigel (who delivered a funded project sprint early in the project and now continues as a valued volunteer), no-one has been paid a penny for any of this. We’ve all done it because we want to.

Companies that succeed often realise that if you get out of their way, people will do amazing work. Adrian Shooter was incredibly demanding about the outcomes he wanted from my work but he allowed me to self-direct it.

That’s the way to get the best from people, and it’s an approach we can bring into our workplaces.

Vision-led not process-led

Look back at the LinkedIn post that started all this. I was clear on what the project was, but no more than the minimum. All I said was that it was “Clear connections, integrated timetables, punctual services - and the freedom to live without a car, even in a small village”. I had no idea - at that point - that it would be in the Hope Valley.

Everything that has happened since has been created and shaped by the volunteer team. Too often, in transport, we wouldn’t focus on chasing down the vision but in following a defined process. The problem is that if there isn’t a process for the thing we’re trying to do (like discover what would happen if we try Swiss-style transport integration in a UK rural area) than we stop. But we don’t need to stop.

I’m reminded of that rather wonderful apocryphal story of the sculptor asked how on earth he was able to create such a realistic sculpture of an elephant. “I just chip away everything that doesn’t look like an elephant”, he said.

Transport processes are very useful for repeat, familiar tasks. But if you’re doing something that’s not been done before, you just need to chip away everything that doesn’t look like the thing you’re trying to create.

Hope

Isn’t it just wonderful that we’re creating the future of integrated transport in a place called Hope?

But we don’t need Hope for hope.

Our sector has been so ground down in recent years, we sometimes lose the ability to define our own future.

Look for the last time at the LinkedIn post that kickstarted all this:

“I realise that big ambitious goals can seem scary. But, actually, they're the essential first step to change. Let’s make something special happen!”

That’s a message we don’t hear often enough in our sector. But, as this project proved, it’s much easier to achieve something if you’re willing to try.

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