Thank you!
Welcome to our last newsletter for 2020. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support over the past 12 months, as 2020 has been an incredibly difficult year with unprecedented challenges for us all. We are very appreciative of the opportunities to work with you and your teams to deliver great outcomes for our community.
We would like to wish all our clients and their families a safe and merry Christmas and we look forward to working closely with you again during the next year. Hopefully will have the opportunity to catch up with many of you face to face in the near future!
Learnings and Highlights of 2020
Like everyone, back in March 2020 we had no idea how 2020 was going to play out, but for BRS, there have been many positives! Some of the key highlights from our perspective include:
Technology as an enabler to continue to support our clients
Technology has shown that whilst it can’t replace face to face delivery, it is something that we will continue to utilise beyond COVID-19. We all know that technology can’t replace the ad hoc conversations, interactions and relationship building that we experience face to face, however a mixed delivery model approach of both face to face and virtual experiences with our clients will continue to be part of what we offer to our clients. This gives us the flexibility to spread our programs and services out over time, ensuring we can align our support, guidance and advice to our clients’ deliverables to maximise the value they obtain from the services provided by our team.
Technology has also demonstrated that geography should not be a barrier, as organisations become more equipped to work online. It gives them more confidence to engage service providers based on their knowledge and experience, rather than where they are located. There is also the opportunity to engage with others who are based in regional and remote areas, or interstate, which promotes diversity in thinking enabling the sharing of knowledge and experience.
Learning Management Systems are a great addition to the workshop experience
18 months ago we first introduced some of our clients to our Learning Management System (LMS), and with the restrictions that were placed on us this year, our LMS has fast become a must have option for many of our clients in 2020. For those followers who aren’t familiar with our LMS, this is an online portal that we use to support our online and face to face training programs providing resources, videos and other tools to support learning post a workshop or coaching experience with BRS.
Our typical LMS set up includes access to:
- workshop / training agenda
- pre-reading materials
- workshop / training slides
- recording of the sessions that you can view post the workshop
- relevant client and BRS templates, tools and articles
- quiz surveys to test the participant’s learning
- certificates of completion for workshops
- interactive forums for Q&A between participants and the facilitator
The simplicity of our LMS and ease of use, provides a flexible option for our clients to have a shared space to ensure the participants make the most of their learning experience.
The Evolution of Social Infrastructure
Our team at BRS are known for our infrastructure expertise as we have been providing services to organisations who procure, plan, design, build, operate or own asset infrastructure for many years. This was typically federal, state and local government, consultants and constructors. However, over the past 18 months we have expanded our services to include social infrastructure, where our team are/have been involved in some very innovative projects that have a direct impact on the community. Working in partnership with these non for profit organisations has been a very enjoyable and rewarding experience and we look forward to becoming more involved with these types of organisations and improving the lives of others. We also look forward to sharing these experiences with all our clients and how the team at BRS have contributed to the delivery of successful outcomes.
Innovative Approaches from our Clients in Responding Post Covid-19
We are also great advocates for promoting new initiatives that are going to benefit our industry. We have two examples we would love to share with you:
Last week the Local Government Association of South Australia launched their Shovel Ready program that supports councils to prepare, plan and delivery projects that will help rebuild SA’s communities after COVID-19, bushfires and drought. This is such a terrific initiative, supporting councils to ensure they are making the most of the funding allocated for stimulus projects. Please click here if you would like to learn more:
The Construction Playbook – Government Guidance on sourcing and contracting public works projects and programmes, that has been developed in the UK is another progressive initiative that demonstrates how the public and private sector can bring together expertise and best practices to improve / transform their public works over the next decade and beyond. Please click here if you would like to read the Construction Playbook which is comprehensive and allows our infrastructure organisations to learn from best practice in the UK construction industry:
Office closure
Please note that our office will be closed from Monday 21st December 2020 for two weeks, and we will be back on Monday 4th January 2021.
Have a terrific holiday break, stay safe and we look forward to catching up in the New Year. Bring on 2021!
Featured case study
Strategic and Major Project Procurement Advisor
BRS was engaged by the Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure (DPTI) to provide strategic procurement advice services for a range of projects, including, Flinders Link, City Tramline Extension, Rail minor works program, Adelink public transport planning project, Gawler East Link Road.
