Martin Davis

Said the following about Adam Archer:

“Adam is an exceptional individual who has made a significant impact at Swindon traincrew depot through his dedication, expertise, and unwavering commitment to driver development and growth. I wholeheartedly believe that Adam deserves recognition for his outstanding contributions in creating development tools, upskilling the team, identifying learner needs, and creating a team of subject matter experts at Swindon depot.

After his appointment as leading driver (2019) Adam has consistently demonstrated his remarkable ability to identify areas for improvement and proactively develop innovative solutions. Adam has been instrumental in creating and implementing a wide range of development tools that have significantly enhanced the learning experience for Swindon drivers, from creating and tailoring upskill sessions to meet the drivers needs to creating and delivering development. From interactive e-learning to comprehensive traction sessions on the GWR Simulators, Adam has shown exceptional creativity and resourcefulness in his approach, growing a partnership with Hitachi Rails’ fault team and Cocklebury sidings for class 387 upskill. Adam’s continuous improvement attitude is infectious and drives us all to do better.

Adam has built a deep understanding of the team's requirements. Thorough assessments and engaging in open dialogue with his colleagues, Adam has been able to design targeted learning experiences that resonates and drives meaningful results.

These results include 11 months of just 52 delay minutes and zero cancellations and zero operational incidents since June 22. These results are impressive considering the risk profile of Swindon depot. 24 drivers competent in Class 800, 387 and 165/6 traction and multiple route competencies that include Paddington to Cardiff, Newbury, Basingstoke, and branch lines.

Adam regularly supports other depots and competence projects within GWR.

Adam’s impact has been felt outside of the workplace, applying skills learnt in his previous role in the armed forces. Adam created and encouraged staff to join a depot running club, supporting those new to running and others that want to improve. Adam also arranges social events for the team, leading to a very close, high performing team of drivers.

This is what Adam’s colleagues have said about him,

Adam is a true leader with a professional enthusiastic and friendly approach is what makes Swindon excel in both competence of drivers and reduced delays by being competent while striving for excellence.

Joining a new depot and learning a new route is always a daunting task but this was made enjoyable and exciting with Adams inputs. Adam very quickly settled my nerves with his friendly caring professional approach and gave me all the tools required to learn the route efficiently and methodically. Adam focused directly on route risks and what to look out for and made the whole method of route learning so much easier and enjoyable for me with a very systematic and thorough approach allowing me to learn from him sharing his own personal experiences and knowledge along with fully showing me all the route learning aids and ensuring I knew how to access them. Adam recognised my training needs and developed his approach to suit me to ensure I had the best opportunity for development and positive learning experience.

What sets Adam apart is his devotion to ensuring drivers have a high level of competence and he allows drivers the ability to not be afraid to ask which is most important in a safety critical role. Adam was instrumental in my personal development when I identified that extra 387 training may be required which Adam quickly ensured a competence upskill day to focus on areas of skill and knowledge fade. Adams knowledge of traction was outstanding along with the delivery method of focusing directly on key learning points and getting the initial correct action for different situations and reinforcing this with practice scenarios while explaining the steps in a systematic and thorough approach.

Adam encourages drivers to ask which is vitally important in a safety critical industry, he recognises that skill and knowledge fade is always present and does not treat you differently if you are unsure but actively encourages you to ask while focusing on continuous development to mitigate against this risk. Adams encouragement to seek information and professionally develop is I believe fundamental to Swindon's excellent safety record.

When Adam has an interaction with you, you always leave more positive than when you started, you feel that every interaction leaves you with a learning outcome which has developed you further, An instance of this for me is when I had an issue with my tablet which required a new tablet, when Adam gave me my new tablet he did not just hand it to me but actually took his own time to set up the tablet, put all the maps, traction manuals, portal, fault guides, rulebooks all on the home page and ensured I understood how to access and use everything. This seemingly small interaction has had a very positive effect on me and has saved me so much effort and time trying to find the relevant information on my tablet, this again reinforces Adams kind caring professional leading approach ensuring you are the best that you can be. By having my tablet set up in this manner once I get my initial action right during an occurrence while driving allows me to seek the required information very quickly and efficiently ultimately reducing risk of incorrect fault finding leading to further incident and significantly reduces delays allowing me the opportunity to check and check again. This approach he has taken with my tablet and other drivers tablets allowing us all to be working of the same standard is I believe how the small differences Adam has taken , the ideas he has developed which may seem small or just taken for granted has a very big positive effect on us as drivers.

The approach Adam has taken with me for route learning and professional development during upskills and assessments has led to me now feeling the most competent I have ever been which is all down to Adams dedication and commitment to training and development of competence and ensuring that if we are unsure to always ask.

The approach Adam is taking with the support he is providing and the system he is putting in place is industry leading. Adam is setting such a high standard that this can only have a positive approach on the rail industry overall and I believe other depots will soon look to Adam and see the benefits of taking a different approach towards mentoring and training and development and see the positive benefits this has at Swindon and the effects on the driving grade as a whole.

Adam should be recognised at the highest level for his work which mostly goes on behind the scenes and can easily go unnoticed but his approach to training and development is allowing a much safer competent community of drivers at Swindon who are actively openly sharing skills and knowledge and personal experiences to ensure the highest level of safety and punctuality.““