Document

Author
Anisha Tailor and Paul Leach
Abstract
In the GB rail industry, staff with operational line management responsibilities – termed ‘operational frontline leaders’ – have been identified as having an important role in safety performance through the development and management of frontline staff competence. However, there is a limited understanding of the skills they need to do this effectively and how these can be developed. To investigate this, this project undertook a workshop, literature review and qualitative interviews. It identified: the opportunities that operational frontline leaders have to develop and manage staff competence; the common knowledge and skills required across this group; the resources and strategies currently used in the rail industry to develop these, and the organisational, job/workplace and individual factors that can inhibit effective performance. It created a leadership model for operational frontline leaders in GB rail and developed ten recommendations for how companies can implement the model and support leaders to develop and apply the required skills.