- Details
- Hits: 666
Leading from the start, AtkinsRealis India keep their strangle hold on the team classification for the eighth consecutive year, and take home the MERIT 2023 Sponsor's Award.
As the Early Years of MERIT 2023 draw to a close, the six Finalists have also been decided.
The top six teams all remain in place but with a slight change in order. 'Lounge 4' and 'Team 1' slip one place to fifth and sixth. 'Team 1' just clinging on recording an improvement of -5% beating seventh place 'Ozzy' by 39 points. 'Ozzy' seemed to have missed their chance recording an improvement of -1%.
SPARTANS rose two places to fourth.
So the finalists for MERIT 2023 are 'Predictably Irrationals', 'Wacky Workforce', 'TITANS', SPARTANS', 'Lounge 4' and 'Team 1'
AtkinsRealis India's teams holding places three and four and Andun Engineering Consultants Ltd's teams holding places five and six are the companies best represented in the final.
The record shows that, more often than not, the team in first place at this stage fails to become champion. We have also experienced the winner coming through from sixth place. Given the points score of the finalists and another eight rounds of an even more competitive competition under time pressure any team can win. We look forward to the tension and excitement of the battle to come. All we can promise is the final will be competitive with the high motivation of all six finalists.
Many teams put in fine performances and we trust all the teams who didn't make the final enjoyed the MERIT 2023 competition and especially the training experience in company, business and financial management, together with the experience of the need for team work and leadership to deliver disciplined decision making, a skill that will have a lasting benefit throughout your career.
MERIT has an established record of raising aspirations and influencing the choice of future training and development as individuals think about what role in the industry they aspire too. Many senior staff benefitted from the MERIT experience when they were developing the broader aspects of their work experience. The advice in taking part in MERIT was to think like a director and act like a director. If you liked this role then set out to train to be a director. What skills do directors have that you need to acquire. The industry needs leaders.
- Details
- Hits: 700
As the speculated performance of the top teams reduce, 'Predictably Irrationals' rise to the top spot from second with 10% improvement. The other five only improved by between 3% and 6% leaving the opportunity for others to catch up. BUT the highest improvement in the chasers was 'Hacksaw' rising to seventeenth from twenty second with an 8% improvement. All other chasers had lower improvements such as 0%, 3%, 5%. These gains weren't going to catch the leaders and we can't remember a time when low scores have been so extensive across most of the teams. It looks like the chasers may have missed an opportunity.
The top six are the same as before with 'Wacky workforce' dropping to second. 'Titans', 'Lounge4', 'Team1', and 'SPARTANS' all remain in positions three to six. Only 548 points separate the top six, it is close but it has been even closer in the past.
'Ozzy' in seventh are only 108 points behind the sixth place and 'KAPtains' in eighth are 250 points adrift so changes are still possible even from further back.
With one round to go there will some tension in both the top teams defending their position and the chasers still chasing. The positions may well change but it's impossible to predict. Experience suggests that the chasers will take the biggest risks in their pursuit of a top place. The top six will probably check everything many times to ensure that they don't make last minute silly mistakes that wreck their performance. Lower down everyone will still be trying to improve their final position. There is genuine satisfaction in generating an improvement at this stage and ending on a higher ranking.
The top six still have things to prove in order to defend their position making sure there are no mistakes. The immediate cluster chasing the top six are stressed by kneading to identify the decisions that will propel them upwards. Other teams are stressed trying to improve their recipe so as to end on a higher ranking.
We can't wait to see what comes out of the oven.
- Details
- Hits: 534
It all seems calm at the top as the top six are the same. 'Wacky Workforce' and 'Predictably Irrationals' retain positions one and two 'TITANS 'rise one place to three swapping with 'Lounge 4' who slip to 4. 'Team 1' and 'Spartans' retain places five and six.
Examining the percentage improvements show that the top six recorded improvement of 10%-15% except for 'Lounge 4' who managed only 8%. These were enough to keep them in the top six. Immediately below them most of the other teams had an under 10% improvement. Thus the chasers aren't showing a differential improvement above the top six which is why they are not catching them. 'Nott McDonalds' and 'We're InCrane' both rose five places with 13% improvement but are twenty and twenty first. Teams below the top six should calculate the percentage improvement needed to catch the top six and there are two rounds to go to bridge that gap. Its time for the chasing team take perhaps more risky decisions to gamble on a good improvement. Usually the top six, as said before, are likely to become cautious at this stage not wanting to lose their place so might not return high improvement figures making them easier to catch.
What will yield the biggest gains, winning work at the right price, getting the most experienced project manager on the right job will improve efficiency and return on that project, recovering your income on projects by having an appropriate level of measurement staff will improve your cash position, making sure the capital in your company is being well used watch the ratio of turnover to capital, review your overheads are their savings you've overlooked before and don't forget your shareholders they need rewarding.
Its time to rock the boat.