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ICW's CEO Frank Lee recently accepted an invitation by Executive Network member Sellafield's Chief Supply Chain Officer Susan Lussem to visit their site in Warrington, where here he was able to see first-hand what they are doing in the area of Social Value.

Sellafield are at the forefront of using a collaborative approach to generate social value into the community of which they are a part. The visit also gave Frank the opportunity to learn more about Sellafield's award winning (ICW Awards 2022) collaborative approach with their supply chain partners to innovate and address some of the most technical challenges faced by any sector.

Frank then had the opportunity to explore with the Sellafield team, and some of their supply chain partners, how we at The ICW can support them in delivering the added value they are determined to realise.

In the Photo with Frank are: Susan Lussem, Andy Van Schaick, Francis Worthington, and Mike Houghton.

ICW's CEO Frank Lee: "It was my great pleasure, along with our Membership Services Director Adrian Miller, to meet with Molly Richards and Elsie Taylor at Babcock International this week. Molly and Elsie gave us an invaluable insight into Babcock's impressive graduate programme and the opportunities it brings for both young professionals and their organisation.

"A key aim for the ICW is to widen our appeal to a new generation of professionals, so a better appreciation of early careers development initiatives and the guidance that participants can give us, is a key to helping us better understand how we can support the development of the next generation of collaborative leaders. We learnt a tremendous amount listening to the perspectives of Elsie and Molly and we look forward to working with them, as well as our other members to whom this is a key topic, to help shape our Institute for the future.

A meeting was hosted at The House of Lords by our Chairman Lord David Evans, for our CEO Frank Lee to meet with one of our members Spencer West. Spencer West are a quite unique firm of Lawyers who believe that collaboration with partners and clients is a key way to provide an enhanced legal experience for all involved.

One area that they discussed was the opportunity that contracts designed to encourage collaboration could bring to add value to business relations as opposed to the more traditional type of contract, This is a topic Spencer West and ICW agreed to continue to work on and shar with our members.

Antoine West from Spencer West said "We are excited to be working with ICW and as their first law firm member. At Spencer West, collaboration is a core value of our firm, and we are keen to be working with ICW to develop tools supportive of collaborative third party engagement".

Along with Antoine West we were joined by Clare Waller & Natalie Knight-Wickens.

The Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) has joined the Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW).

LCRIG Chief Executive, Martin Duffy recently met with the new ICW Chief Executive, Frank Lee - at their offices in London. Martin was invited to talk about raising the profile of collaboration within the highways sector.

The ICW is recognised as thought leaders in collaborative working and were the driving force behind the development of ISO 44001, the first ever international business collaboration standard. As a totally self-financing, multi-tiered membership organisation the Institute provides practical guidance from extensive experience gained from working across relationships within the commercial, Government and academic arenas. The Institute was established in 1990 by the UK Government and the CBI to help organisations, large and small, in both public and private sectors, to build and develop effective business relationships – both internally and externally - based upon collaborative working good practice.

Frank Lee said: "I'm delighted that LCRIG have agreed to come together with the ICW to engage, share and find opportunities for joint initiatives that will benefit our members. Our organisations share common aims, particularly around innovation and collaboration, as well as supporting our members progress towards their net zero targets. As likeminded purpose driven organisations, we see great opportunities to work together in ways that can both support and influence key stakeholders, to attract investment and drive improvements that can help build better local community infrastructure and amenity, along with improving social outcomes and wellbeing, in conjunction with promoting safer and better environments for all."

LCRIG Chief Executive Martin Duffy said: "There is great synergy between ICW and LCRIG as we are both member-focused, not-for-profit, purpose-driven organisations that promote the benefits of structured collaborative working. This is why I'm delighted that LCRIG are joining ICW and that we will be able to support them in their ongoing efforts to increase their footprint in the highways sector. By working together both groups will be able to extract more value from collaborative working with the objective of delivering on key priorities such as social value, climate change and innovation. It is only through partnerships such as this one that we can continue to make the case for local roads and ensure that collaboration and innovation sit at the heart of everything we do."

On a recent visit to the ICW Office Frank Lee took the opportunity to present Ben Pearson-Clarke with his ICW Membership certificate.

Ben who was one of the HS2 award winning team in the 2022 ICW Awards last December joined ICW as a member in January and he was the first individual member under Franks leadership of ICW as CEO.

Ben is looking at ways in which he can be more involved both individually and corporately in the Institute.

We are proud to announce that GRAHAM Group, specialists in Building, Civil Engineering, Interior Fit-Out, Facilities Management and Investments, has become the latest organisation to join our prestigious group of Ambassadors.

Stepping up from ICW’s Executive Network, GRAHAM Group has already been recognised with a number of ICW Collaborative Awards with their commitment to being at the leading edge of collaboration and in providing the highest quality of service and safety to their clients and communities. In its new role as Ambassador we look forward to the many collaborative opportunities and mutual benefits that lie ahead.

ICW Chairman Lord Evans was delighted to welcome GRAHAM’s Chairman Michael Graham, and Head of Integrated Management Systems Denis Leonard, at the House of Lords this Thursday to recognise and congratulate them on their new role and to thank them for their unwavering support over many years.

Our Annual Associate Directors Seminar, held at Warwick University - one of our longest-standing academia partners - was a great success, covering many important and topical subjects. The seminar's main focus was building the 'Institute of Tomorrow', working Collaboratively with a select number of key stakeholders being the positive way to do this. Our new vision and mission were key elements in our discussions, as well as how structured collaboration addresses the challenges we face today.

Being a member-focused organisation, we also looked at how we add value to our members, both in terms of what we do now and what we can do going forwards. Professor Paul Connor joined in the discussion, detailing how he is helping us build our new communication and Marketing strategy.

The ICW will be starting a series of events in 2023. These events will focus on sharing knowledge and experience on all things collaboration. They will be a mix of informal online ‘share and learn’ sessions, more formal webinar activities, and we will be reintroducing our in-person events later in the year. The in-person events will be on the road too, and we are looking to hold events not only in London but also in Leeds and Cardiff.

The events will be for our members, and their guests, to ensure a wider understanding of the benefits of collaboration, and how collaboration and collaborative working can make a real difference.

We are delighted to announce that Jill Clancy FICW, Associate Director of ICW, has taken up the role of Collaborative Events Leader. She will be organising these events and making sure they run smoothly - certainly a challenge but one that she is eager to take on having really benefited from ICW events in the past.

We aim to meet as many of our members’ requirements as possible, so the events will cover a variety of topics. Some events will be single topic, while others may focus on a particular sector or link topics to ensure a wider view. We will aim to share learning and experiences of the journey people have taken to successful collaboration, and on some very specific areas that members want to know more about. We will ensure that the events are in line with the ICW’s 4 key strategic aims: Social Value, Sustainability, EDI and Better Commercial Outcomes.

Stephen Blakey FRICS, FCInstCES, FICW, Commercial Projects Director at Network Rail,
Frank Lee FICW, CEO at ICW

We had great pleasure in welcoming ICW Ambassador company Network Rail's Commercial Projects Director Stephen Blakey to the ICW offices at Evergreen House this week. Stephen is a leading advocate of collaboration in business, and a real supporter of the work we do at the Institute to promote the wider adoption of structured collaboration. It was great to learn from Stephen how initiatives that the Institute is deploying can support Network Rail's strategy, and help ensure the projects that they are undertaking provide maximum value to their stakeholders. We found it very valuable getting his thoughts and inputs into our plans for ensuring ICW membership continues to be a clear differentiator for our members at the leading edge of collaborative working. We really look forward to working with him on this going forward.

On Thursday 23rd February I had the privilege of joining our Ambassador member Leidos at their 'Coronation Showcase' at the Honourable Artillery Company in London. The event celebrated the contribution of Small and Medium Enterprises to the Coronation of HM King Charles III.

It was inspiring to learn about the contribution of 'Team Leidos', as well as all the supply chain contractors, on how they pulled out all the stops to support the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II. It was also great to have the opportunity to discuss with Leidos' Ambassador representative Angela Crabtree, and colleague Robert McNeill, our visions for the future. In particular, how we believe ICW and structured collaboration can support organisations such as Leidos in achieving their goals and to see how closely our vision aligns with their thinking.