Oct 8, 2025 | News and insight
The University of Southampton has just released a paper Clienting in Major Projects: Beyond Outputs, Towards Outcomes. The paper presents a Clienting Framework for Major Projects that adopts a systems-based approach designed to help clients shift from buying assets to stewarding measurable outcomes. It has been great to be part of this valuable research alongside the University of Southampton and Emma-Jane Houghton.
The framework identifies six dimensions that move clients beyond transactional control towards outcome-focused orchestration:
- Purpose and outcomes – clarity of intent anchored in measurable value
- Governance and decision rights – authority that follows information, not hierarchy
- Client organisation and capability – lean but credible cores that blend technical and behavioural strength
- Procurement and contracting – incentives aligned to value, not volume
- Relationships and ecosystem – clients as trusted brokers within systems of delivery
- Methods, data and digital – shared evidence that builds confidence and enables adaptation
“Effective clients orchestrate collaboration”
The paper’s core finding is that clients must orchestrate ecosystems, providing the leadership that convenes suppliers, users, regulators, and sponsors, rather than attempting to control every detail from the centre. It outlines how weaknesses in any one area can systematically erode outcomes and offers recommendations, diagnostic questions, and vignettes illustrating how orchestration practices work.
ResoLex’s perspective
Major projects change places and lives, but too often they deliver assets, not the promised benefits. The University’s research echoes what we see in practice: outcomes fade when clienting focuses on outputs, not value creation. This is particularly evident when governance expands into bureaucracy and ineffective ways of working create decision-making latency, slowing delivery into paralysis.
For 25 years, ResoLex have supported major programmes to build the relational and behavioural foundations that enable technical and commercial excellence to flourish. The research validates what we experience daily: that the key to performance is not more governance, but better collaboration, shaped through trust, clarity, and shared purpose.
“Approaches grounded mainly in technical and procedural competence are increasingly ill-suited to the complexity of today’s projects”
At ResoLex, our work is about designing the relational and behavioural systems that prevent that fade, so technical and commercial excellence can actually produce the benefits intended. These principles echo our belief that collaboration must be designed, not assumed, through deliberate structures, behaviours, and feedback loops that align intent across diverse actors throughout the project lifecycle.
Our reflections
From our experience supporting some of the UK’s largest programmes, we see three priorities for clients seeking to act on the University of Southampton’s insight:
- Build relational capability early – create the operating environment that enables teams to work at pace and with candour
- Design governance for timely and effective decision making – empower the right people, with the right data to make the decision, and not descending into a pseudo collaborative culture of rule by committee
- Invest in being a ‘Client of Choice’ – predictability, trust, and a clear sense of purpose will attract better partners and unlock the potential of collective problem-solving to drive outcomes
Looking ahead
We are proud to have supported the development of this important research and look forward to developing a practical guide for clients. This seeks to translate the framework into actionable tools, techniques, and behavioural enablers for those delivering complex programmes.
Our shared ambition is simple: to help clients move beyond control to orchestration, creating delivery ecosystems that are aligned, adaptive, and capable of achieving the transformational outcomes society needs.
Read the full paper here: Clienting in Major Projects: Beyond Outputs, Towards Outcomes
Sep 11, 2025 | 25 in 25, News and insight
We are back with another Associate Spotlight. As part of our continued 25th birthday celebrations, we have been asking our Associates why they choose to work with us and contribute to the projects we support. Here is
Christian Lippiatt’s story:
“Over two decades ago, I took on a small project with ResoLex that sparked a deep interest in collaborative working. That initial experience led me into the NHS, where I spent the next 20 years immersed in transformation and service improvement.
More recently, I made the move into freelancing and was thrilled when Ed, ResoLex’s Chief Executive, invited me to rejoin the team. That was over 18 months ago, and I’ve since been supporting the New Hospital Programme, a project that aligns closely with my passion for enabling positive change in the NHS.
What continues to stand out for me is the way ResoLex works. The team brings together a rich mix of backgrounds and experiences, and yet shares a common set of values that make collaboration both meaningful and effective.
The values of Insight and Creativity deeply resonate with my own approach to teamwork and collaboration. I believe that when every team member is empowered to contribute their perspective, and when we take the time to truly understand the context and needs of a project, we unlock the potential for meaningful, tailored solutions. Insight allows us to move beyond generic approaches and co-create with purpose, while creativity ensures that each person’s unique strengths are harnessed. When these values are embraced, the team’s output becomes far greater than the sum of its parts -driven by shared understanding, diverse thinking, and a collective commitment to excellence.
Working alongside such a thoughtful and values-driven team has been incredibly rewarding, and I look forward to continuing this journey and making a positive impact together.”
We’re grateful to our Associates for bringing their expertise, living our values, and helping clients achieve their desired project outcomes. We’ll continue to share some of their stories and other news on our LinkedIn.
Sep 4, 2025 | 25 in 25, News and insight
We’re delighted to share that ResoLex has been recognised as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces in 2025 for Consulting & Professional Services™ by Great Place to Work® UK 🎉
This recognition is based entirely on anonymous feedback from employees across the industry. Great Place to Work® UK used their research-backed Trust Index© employee survey to assess workplace culture, exploring how organisations support work-life balance, fulfilment, job satisfaction, psychological safety, and financial security.
The Best Workplaces in Consulting & Professional Services™ list includes organisations across a wide range of knowledge-intensive roles, spanning across management consultancy, legal services, engineering, marketing, recruitment, and more.
“Employees in consulting and professional services are under increasing pressure to perform amidst digital transformation and shifting client expectations, reshaping how people work. The top-performing workplaces in this sector stand out by actively supporting their employees through change. Employees have shared with us that clear, consistent communication from leadership, and a focus on inclusive decision-making have helped to ensure colleagues feel supported, informed, and empowered.
Congratulations ResoLex, on creating a truly great workplace and earning recognition as a UK’s Best Workplace in Consulting & Professional Services™”
Benedict Gautrey, Managing Director of Great Place To Work® UK
At ResoLex, we’re proud of the culture we’ve built together, one rooted in collaboration, trust, and the belief that strong relationships underpin successful outcomes. This recognition is a reflection of the amazing people who make ResoLex what it is.
You can view the full list here: UK’s Best Workplaces in Consulting & Professional Services™ 2025 | Great Place to Work® UK
Aug 27, 2025 | News and insight
The difference between a programme that delivers and one that drifts is the quality of the baton passes between teams and organisations.
Major projects are no longer simple, linear endeavours. They are complex ecosystems made up of multiple organisations, disciplines, teams and technologies intertwined in ways that demand more than technical excellence. In today’s infrastructure environment, programmes are rarely held back by technical design or commercial models alone. More often, it’s the gaps between organisations, including unclear handovers, hidden dependencies, and misaligned expectations, that stall delivery, create frustration, erode trust; ultimately increasing costs and delaying delivery.
In a major programme ecosystem, delivery depends on multiple organisations working together across multiple layers. Without visibility of interfaces:
- Handovers are unclear, slowing progress.
- Teams duplicate effort or work at cross purposes.
- Decision-making stalls because escalation routes are not transparent.
- Mobilisation of new partners takes longer and introduces risk or delays.
These are not small inefficiencies; they directly impact pace, cost, and delivery confidence.
ResoLex help clients address these challenges through Interface Mapping, bringing visibility and clarity to the handoffs and interdependencies that underpin complex delivery through a structured, behavioural-led approach. Rather than being a simple diagramming exercise, Interface Mapping is a delivery tool that systematically identifies and visualises the critical interdependencies, decision pathways, and behavioural friction points across a programme.
By providing an interactive map, we enable leaders to move from reactive coordination to proactive collaboration – ensuring that baton passes between delivery teams are smooth, efficient and effective. The value comes from embedding the outputs into everyday delivery, helping teams make better decisions and sustain momentum.
Benefits of Interface Mapping:
Interface Mapping provides practical support that strengthens both delivery pace and confidence:
- It helps teams understand who they depend on and why, reducing bottlenecks and preventing duplication.
- It gives leaders a clear view of delivery risk and decision ambiguity, so they can intervene early and keep programmes on track.
- It provides new partners with a faster, clearer route to integration, ensuring mobilisation is smooth and expectations are aligned from day one.
- It ensures governance aligns with ISO 44001 principles of shared risk, joint performance, and transparent ownership.
- It enables faster, better decisions by clarifying ownership and escalation routes, keeping delivery pace high.
At ResoLex, we combine the structural with the behavioural. Our approach doesn’t just show the where and when of handovers, it also surfaces how people interact, where friction accumulates, and how trust can be operationalised. We help clients transform collaboration from a statement of intent into a repeatable rhythm, building programmes that don’t just deliver faster, but deliver together.
For clients, the value is clear:
- Stronger mobilisation – partners are onboarded faster and with clearer expectations.
- More predictable delivery – leaders see where confidence is at risk and can intervene early.
- Reduced risk and cost – bottlenecks, duplicated effort, and delays are exposed early.
- Reduced behavioural friction – accountability is clearer, and issues can be addressed without blame.
- Resilient delivery environments – trust, pace, and collaboration are reinforced across the programme, into day-to-day delivery—not just into governance reports.
In a world where infrastructure programmes are becoming ever more complex, Interface Mapping is not a “nice to have”; it is critical infrastructure for delivery itself. Interface Mapping is more than creating a map; it’s about creating an interactive visual tool that enables collaborative delivery.
Aug 22, 2025 | 25 in 25, News and insight
Delivering complex infrastructure projects isn’t just about engineering excellence or hitting deadlines; it’s about the strength of the relationships that hold everything together. The lead-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, one of the UK’s most ambitious regeneration programmes, highlighted this truth. Amid tight timelines, high technical demands, and multiple stakeholders, success was forged not only on design and construction but on collaboration, communication, and trust across project interfaces.
The preparation for the Games required extensive enabling works at the Marshgate Lane site in Stratford, with a critical project being the relocation of the Sortex factory. This demanded a highly coordinated effort across design, construction, operations, and equipment providers due to tight timelines and the technical requirements of a ‘precision cleanroom environment’ – a contamination-free space designed for precision equipment in simple terms.
ResoLex supported the project by introducing its RADAR tool (then called X-Tracker), designed to monitor the strength of working relationships across teams. Unlike traditional project metrics, RADAR provided real-time, perception-based feedback on collaboration, communication, and decision-making. This data revealed that strong relationships were the most reliable predictor of project success, enabling proactive issue resolution and preventing escalation of challenges.
A pivotal insight came from the site foreman, who observed that when relationships were strong, problems were swiftly solved, but when they were weak, even small issues became major setbacks. This realisation shifted the project team’s focus from tracking only the technical indicators to actively monitoring and strengthening relationships.
The client stated:
If the relationships were working well, any issues will be solved. If the relationships were poor, even small problems would escalate into major challenges.
The positive cultural shift fostered by RADAR led to improved collaboration, proactive problem-solving, and ultimately, project success. This early application proved the tool’s value and laid the foundation for its continued development as a critical enabler of performance in complex project environments.
Over a decade later, there is still a heavy reliance on technical indicators – schedules, budgets, and risk registers – in tracking progress. While essential, these measures only highlighted problems after they had already surfaced, whereas relationship health provides early warning signs of potential issues.
If relationships are the hidden driver of performance, what more can we do as an industry to build them deliberately?
