Getting Cultured

What a summer it’s been! Never mind the sporting heroics in cricket or the political storms with the fuel feuds. At CentreStage, culture has been top of the agenda in a series of workshops with the North London Gas Alliance.

The workshops are part of the first phase of a programme to promote the desired culture into a new alliance comprising the Skanska-McNicholas Plc Joint Venture in partnership with National Grid. The contract - to replace the old cast iron gas mains in the north London area - is for an initial 8 year period with the potential to extend a further 5 years.

For many of the people involved in the contract, the alliance brings with it an entirely new way of working, often requiring a change in behaviour, both towards each other and towards members of the public. So CentreStage was brought in to disturb thinking. Using a combination of theory (the components of Active Listening) and Forum Theatre, we have helped raise awareness of the importance of displaying the appropriate behaviours in order to influence the behaviour of customers. After all, 'behaviour breeds behaviour'.

Gerry Whelan, Culture Development Manager for the alliance, said, "I have been very interested for some time in using actors for roleplay as my experience of running roleplays with participants in training have been met with limited success. This is mainly due to the fact that in the construction industry we employ engineers, not aspiring actors!"

"Skanska had used CentreStage in their Contract Performance Workshops, which were deemed a great success by the participants, and so they were an obvious choice when I began looking for suitable actors."

"The workshops have achieved their objectives and CentreStage have been a major factor in this success. They have injected just the right amount of humour to make the learning experience fun. They combine the skills of acting, facilitating and teaching to achieve a business objective", she said.