Mandy Geal

Said the following about Leevan Finney:

“Since Leevan became the manager of High Output Core Plant in April this year he has done a superb job of managing people through a period of change, with the inevitable uncertainty and pressures that change brings. Leevan is an energetic, responsive and supportive manager and he engages people with him. He involves and inspires his team and is passionate about getting the best out of people by treating them with respect and looking for what they can do, rather than criticising them for what has happened. They are now working as a strong team with a clear purpose, shared goals and a combined sense of achievement, and they pull together to sort out problems. They really enjoy working together and morale has improved enormously.

The team’s results speak for themselves; in the South East there have been no plant failures affecting work and 96% of the total plan has been delivered. In Scotland the team has delivered 114% of the agreed plan, including the risk overlay from the previous campaign. This represents an improvement of 38% in delivery from the previous year.

Leevan is very responsive to people and situations. He faces up to problems head on and encourages people to understand what has happened without pointing the finger of blame, to get some clarity, and to focus on finding solutions and on what people can do to sort out the problems. As a result he brings people along with him, they are more committed to the outcome and the chosen solution, and take responsibility for their own part in proposed actions.

Leevan’s team is made up of ex-contractor staff and Network Rail staff, who maintain, deliver, and operate equipment used for High Output Track Renewals. Owing to restricted access to track the deadlines and elapsed timescales for delivering this work are tight and pressurised. The success of this work depends absolutely on teamwork and collaboration across many different companies and departments within Network Rail. Under such pressure, it is easy to look for scapegoats and blame others if there are problems and things do not work out. Leevan has never done this and has demonstrated and led a different approach. He maintains respect for people in other Network Rail teams and other companies, he resolves conflicts, he supports people, he challenges and motivates them to put things right.

Leevan has recently led an initiative to clarify roles and responsibilities in his team and generate objectives and measures that are fair, reasonable and aligned with the team’s goals and the overall High Output goals. So people are much clearer about what is expected of them and where they fit in overall. Leevan regularly gives his team feedback that motivates them and encourages them to look for continual improvements for short term as well as long-term benefits.

The best words to describe Leevan are encouraging, inspiring, clear, firm and fair. He is a great role model for successful collaboration as well as an excellent line manager.

Mike Black Director of Supply Chain Services Network Rail said’

“As well as a significant improvement in results, I am also starting to see a really positive attitude from the teams and they all seem more engaged – our engagement survey this month should be able to demonstrate that.”“