Ballast Nedam: “contractual awareness”
building culture
Ballast Nedam: “contractual awareness”
Every project starts with a signature: once the contract is signed, it’s all systems go. How does Ballast Nedam get everyone in the organization to embrace their role as “contract manager” and put this role into practice?
Construction engineering company Ballast Nedam is divided into several business units, each of which has its own specialization and level of complexity. Operating in the Netherlands and internationally, the company signs contracts with its clients that range from basic and standard contracts to highly technically sophisticated ones. The first step in any new contract is to identify commonalities and differences, which requires that the parties engage in discussion and then use the takeaways to define Ballast Nedam’s ideas on (1) what “contractual awareness” entails, (2) what general principles and rules should be applied and (3) how all the parties involved are expected to act. Taking the time to carefully develop this plan together is the key to targeted learning and improvement.
Ami’s Raymond Maas and Michiel Kool are supporting the organization in building and familiarizing employees with this new perspective on contractual awareness.
Ami had previously launched the “Take Care” safety program in conjunction with Ballast Nedam. Using the knowledge of the company acquired from this previous project, we then designed an effective plan of action. We put together an organization-wide team, so that contractual, legal and operational knowledge and experience could be leveraged within the organization. One high-impact initiative in the early stages of the project involved interviewing more than 100 employees on this topic across 16 business units. This same information was then used (overseen by Ami) to formulate a “contractual awareness” definition, perspective, principles and behavioral compass and test it within all business units and departments. Each of the business units could then use this template and tailor it to its own requirements.
Martijn Smitt
The success of our Safety Culture movement ‘Take Care’, in which we made significant steps with the help of Ami, led us to ask Ami to guide us in our program ‘Contractual Awareness’. Ami knows our organization, and we know Ami, and above all, we know we can rely on each other. That makes our collaboration effective, because in the end all collaborations are the work of people. Trusting each others expertise is key.
