Recruitment
“Great Western Railway (GWR) is one of the biggest rail franchises in the UK, part of the First Group of companies, operating the Western network since 1996, re-branding ourselves as GWR in 2015. We employ over 6000 people across our network and we carry more than one and a half million customers over two million single journeys on 10,000 services every week. People are at the heart of our business and our ethos is that we are 'greater together'.
Sharon has shown great leadership and commitment to improving performance of 1L42 the 0730 Carmarthen to Paddington train. The train runs from Carmarthen to Swansea as a 5 car IET (Class 800/802 Inter-City Express Train) and then couples up in Swansea to be a 10 car. It has 8 minutes to complete this process. From the time this service started to run as an IET performance was a major issue. Each day the crew experienced problems with the coupling up process in Swansea. This meant the train was regularly delayed and customers were getting increasingly frustrated. The train was only meeting PPM 30% of the time at the start of the year. This has now risen to 59% and the average lateness at destination has also improved. Sharon quickly identified the issue and worked with local crew (including drivers, train managers and the engineers from Hitachi) to resolve the problems. She kept the wider team informed of the work she was leading, including the Head of Drivers and former IEP project lead, and did her best to keep the right people informed at the right time.
Over time she logged the difficulties, looked for trends and repeat problems and worked with others to develop possible solutions using data to guide decision making. Sharon involved and engaged with the front-line teams, asked for their expertise, listened and empowered them to put forward ideas for implementation. She took time to keep them all up to date and explained why things worked/didn’t work so they understood what happened with the ideas they shared. This wasn’t an easy project for Sharon, she encountered a number of challenges and barriers to the work that she was leading.
Sharon demonstrated great tenacity and continued to lobby colleagues with suggestions for changes that would improve the performance of the service, showing great resilience throughout. Sharon accepted that she didn’t have all the answers, she asked for help and provided possible solutions to the issues that were being experienced. She was the sounding board for frontline colleagues and customers frustrations with the issues and perceived lack of progress/ openness to change for the benefit of our customers with HQ based colleagues.
I saw first-hand the work that had been undertaken by the local team and the range of options that Sharon had scoped that could improve the issues. It was obvious that Sharon cared deeply about the work and was passionate about doing her best to make the performance of the train better.
Sharon negotiated a series of challenging conversations where she managed a degree of conflict with colleagues and brought them to a position where they listened and accepted the options developed by the local team. Whilst there were other fixes and solutions also in play that all played their part in resolving the performance issues including a software reboot, the way Sharon took ownership of the issue, involved front line colleagues and managed challenging conversations was admirable. The result is that the method of working has been changed to follow the actions developed by the team in Swansea. It has been adopted in other areas and has resulted in improved performance for the coupling up of IETs and better experiences for our customers. Accepting that there is still work to be done to improve performance that arise because of other reasons, the consistent issue of coupling up at Swansea taking longer than the allocated 8 minutes has improved greatly thanks to the focus and determination shown by Sharon.
I work out of Swansea depot regularly and see Sharon living all our GWR values. She takes ownership of issues and tries to find the right people to work with so they can be resolved. She cares passionately about her team and the wider GWR team in Swansea and often goes beyond the call of duty to lead by example and to do the best thing for customers. She shows empathy for colleagues and does her best to go beyond the process to understand the person and human side of management. Sharon has helped me with Safety tours on depot and has worked with the wider team to achieve Exemplar Bronze in the depot. She owns issues and shows tenacity to get things resolved. I have seen Sharon share information and respectfully challenge members of our Exec team in order to present sensitive situations and find solutions that benefit the health and wellbeing of colleagues. When travelling on board I have seen Sharon check in with colleagues and offer to help during disruption to aid passengers with information and refreshments.
Performance of the train and the work undertaken by Sharon has been noted by various colleagues in GWR including our Director of Operations. They spoke to Sharon to thank her for making a difference. Her work has led to a revised method of work for this procedure that has improved performance of other trains across the network.“
“A fine supportive manager who always supports the team and someone who is approachable hard working and a asset to the depot“
“Sharon is a true inspiration; constantly striving to drive up the standards not only at Swansea but across the region and company as a whole. Sharon leads by example, and is meticulous in every aspect of her work, she encourages other to raise their own standards, championing personal and professional development. Sharon is not only my line manager but also a wonderul support to me in my role as acting guards manager, she is a trusted mentor to many and demonstrates inclusivity and endless patience. Her vast experience and knowledge of the railway provides a wealth of invaluable information to colleagues across the business.
Sharon has a proven record of achievement, especially during periods of change and often against tight deadlines. Sharon managed to train all the Guards at Swansea and Cardiff on the new Intercity Express trains when they came into service, in record time and with limited resources. Sharon made this happen with tenacity and a positive attitude, managing to keep colleagues motivated throughout the transition.
Following on from that, Sharon worked alongside the Driver team, Hitachi and TFW to solve the teething problems experienced during the attachment of two 800 units each morning at Swansea. This was not something that Sharon was expected to do but she observed the process each morning to fault find, trouble shoot and ultimately ensure a successful system of work was implemented. The performance of this service significantly improved, providing customers with confidence, offering a more reliable journey with less delays. As attachments of the 800 units become more commonplace across the network , the 'Swansea way' is often cited as the best working practice.
Sharon takes great pride in her work environment, wanting to making improvements for all crew members. She has worked tirelessly towards achieving the Exemplar Silver award, which will hopefully be awarded in the next couple of weeks. This hasn't been an easy task as it involved making fundamental changes to the work place that were often met with challenges , reluctance to change, suspicion and apathy. Sharon has almost single handley overcome all these obstacles to push on and meet the required criteria. Sharon has also helped other depots to achieve their Bronze award by offering advice and support.
Sharon was recently involved in the aftermath of the tragic rail accident at Margam when two track workers sadly lost their lives. Sharon was one of the first on- call managers at the scene and had to adopt the role of the Train Operator Liasion Officer (TOLO), she excelled in this position, having to give direction and make decisions in extremly difficult circumstances.
Sharon embodies so many great leadership qualities and deserves recognition for all the hard work she puts in.“
“To say the past 12 months have been a challenge for Sharon is an understatement and I am sure that everyone at Swansea depot would agree.
In October 2017 Sharon was asked to complete the mammoth task of getting all of Cardiff’s and Swansea’s Guards trained on the new Class 800 trains in less than 11 weeks. Sharon took on the challenge with enthusiasm and determination: organising peer trainers and assessors and then conducting training or assessments herself when there were gaps in the schedule. This meant not only working long hours in the office but also working long, un-socialable hours to match the schedule of the training trains, missing precious time with her young family. All of this was done in conjunction with an already challenging and busy day job which Sharon still completed on top of the additional tasks. I believe that Sharon has demonstrated all of qualities of not only ‘accountable for performance’ but also being ‘committed to our customers’. By ensuring all guards in the South Wales depots were trained to operate the new Class 800 Units; our customers could enjoy the benefits of the new trains.
More recently Sharon has committed to clearing and sorting an area known as ‘the dungeon’ in Swansea depot. As with everything Sharon does she threw everything into getting the area cleared and all of the paperwork and equipment, some of which had been there longer than she had, sorted and correctly filed. This once again took a lot of effort and hard work, not only physically but logistically as Sharon had to balance the needs of her day job against the other projects. The benefits of clearing this area are so Sharon can provide an area for other people to use as a meeting room and quiet room for all the train crew at Swansea as well as ensuring the depot is compliant with the new GDPR regulations once again showing that Sharon is ‘accountable for performance’. ‘The Dungeon’ is now no longer like a dungeon and once again this is thanks to Sharon ‘setting the highest standards’ for her depot.
Sharon embodies the 6 pillars every day and shows the same determination and commitment to everything that she does. Sharon successfully manages her day job against the projects she takes on and is never afraid to take on a challenge. She could have been nominated for any category but I believe that she has excelled in accountable for performance and setting the highest standards. It should also be stated that the projects Sharon takes on are never for the benefit of herself but for her depot or our customers. I have not been managing Sharon very long but I am proud of the hard work she has done and continues to do.
Once the Class 800 training was completed Sharon had another project to manage and that was to be the first depot in the Central Region to be awarded exemplar bronze. Sharon set her mind to getting Swansea recognised for their good practices using the same determination and enthusiasm shown when organising the Class 800 training, once again putting in long hours and doing some work in her own time. All this work paid off and Swansea was awarded exemplar bronze, something I know that Sharon is extremely proud of and rightly so. Sharon is now working toward getting Swansea an exemplar silver award as well as helping other depots in the region get their bronze award. Not only does this show how committed Sharon is to ‘setting the highest standards’ but also how she wants other teams to succeed using the experience she has gained doing exemplar bronze.
Sharon's work with the Class 800 training ensured our customers were able to experience our new trains when promised. This has improved the customers experience when travelling with us.“
“Well done for a fantastic event, thoroughly enjoyed by all and definitely the right place for us to be! Look forward to working together next year.”
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