An Introduction to the Methodology Transforming Workplace Relationships

When British Airways faced a pilot strike in 2019 that cost the airline £121 million, the traditional response would have been to dig in, negotiate harder, and hope for the best. Instead, they chose a different path—one that has since transformed their relationship with their pilot union from adversarial to collaborative.

That path is High Performance through Engagement (HPtE).

But HPtE isn’t just about resolving industrial disputes. It’s a systematic methodology for achieving sustainable organisational excellence by engaging the people closest to the problems in solving them.

The Core Principle: No Trade-Offs Required

Most organisations believe they face impossible choices:

HPtE is built on a fundamentally different premise: these aren’t trade-offs at all.

When done properly, engaging your workforce in systematic problem-solving doesn’t slow you down—it accelerates performance. Building collaborative relationships with unions doesn’t compromise commercial objectives—it unlocks them. Investing in culture doesn’t cost money—it saves it.

This isn’t wishful thinking. It’s what happens when you apply a rigorous, proven methodology to one of business’s most stubborn challenges: workplace conflict.

What Makes HPtE Different?

HPtE isn’t another employee engagement survey. It’s not team-building exercises or suggestion boxes. It’s not even traditional change management.

HPtE is when the people closest to the customer use systematic analytical tools and structured processes to identify root causes, develop solutions, and implement quickly to increase value.

Four things make HPtE distinctive:

1. The 3Cs Model: Balanced Value Creation

At the heart of HPtE lies the 3Cs Model—a framework that recognises sustainable high performance requires simultaneous focus on three dimensions:

Commercial Responsibility

Meeting financial obligations whilst operating efficiently and sustainably. HPtE eliminates waste caused by conflict and siloed decision-making, creating genuine cost savings without compromising quality.

Customer Value

Delivering exceptional service, quality, and outcomes. When frontline staff are engaged in problem-solving, they identify improvements management consultants never could—because they see what customers actually experience.

Constructive Culture

Building trust, collaboration, and mutual respect. This isn’t the ‘soft stuff’—it’s the foundation that makes everything else possible. Without it, even the best strategies fail in implementation.

The 3Cs principle: Optimising one dimension at the expense of the others creates unsustainable performance. True excellence requires synergistic value creation across all three.

2. Systematic Thinking Tools

HPtE isn’t about good intentions or better communication. It’s about systematic methodology.

We use proven tools from the Theory of Constraints—particularly the Evaporating Cloud—to surface hidden assumptions, challenge conventional thinking, and discover breakthrough solutions that transcend apparent trade-offs.

We employ Interest-Based Problem Solving (IBPS) to move stakeholders from entrenched positions to underlying interests, creating space for genuine collaboration.

These aren’t soft skills. They’re rigorous analytical frameworks that produce measurable results.

3. Methodology Transfer, Not Consultant Dependency

HPtE’s goal isn’t to make you dependent on external facilitators. It’s to build your internal capability so you can sustain high performance long after the initial intervention.

We train your people to facilitate. We develop your leaders to think systematically. We create governance structures that embed collaborative problem-solving into how you operate.

The measure of success isn’t how well we facilitate—it’s how well you can facilitate without us.

4. Proven Track Record in High-Stakes Environments

HPtE has been tested in some of the most challenging workplace relationships imaginable:

Air New Zealand (2014-2019)

Over 40 diverse improvement projects spanning five years. Multiple unions. Complex operational challenges including base closures and fleet changes. Result: zero strike days throughout the partnership period and sustained collaborative relationships that outlasted external facilitation.

Thomas Cook Airlines (2017-2018)

Brought in after industrial action had fractured trust between pilots and management. Result: First successful pay deal following the dispute, rebuilding relationships thought to be irreparable.

British Airways (2020, 2024-present)

Engaged following a £121 million pilot strike. Re-engaged in 2024 to lead ongoing HPtE initiative across multiple improvement teams. Transformation from adversarial to collaborative partnership continues.

These aren’t small successes. They’re fundamental transformations of workplace relationships in highly unionised, operationally complex, commercially pressured environments.

How HPtE Works: The Five-Phase Journey

Whilst every HPtE implementation is tailored to context, the methodology follows a proven, decision-gated sequence. Each phase includes natural stop points where stakeholders can choose whether to progress.

Phase 1: Exploration

Introduce HPtE concepts, assess organisational readiness, and build initial relationships between management and union stakeholders. This phase explores whether HPtE is the right fit through leadership briefings, union consultations, and assessment of cultural readiness.

Critical Decision: “Is this something we want to explore further through a proof of concept?” If no, stop here. No waste, no false starts.

Phase 2: Proof of Concept

Demonstrate HPtE through a focused, tangible project (typically 3-6 months) that delivers measurable results across the 3Cs. A joint management-union improvement team tackles a real pain point using accelerated Interest-Based Problem Solving.

Critical Decision: “Do we want to commit to HPtE Strategy?” This decision is based on demonstrated results, experience of collaborative working, and stakeholder readiness.

Phase 3: Governance Structure

Establish the organisational architecture for sustainable implementation. Create the HPtE Leadership Team (joint union-management leadership), develop the HPtE Charter (formal agreement on roles and operating principles), and build support systems including Project Management Office and facilitation capacity.

This represents a significant commitment to a new way of working that reduces conflict, eliminates silos, and removes waste.

Phase 4: Project Teams

Scale HPtE across the organisation through multiple improvement teams delivering measurable results. Teams use accelerated IBPS to address specific challenges whilst the HPtE Leadership Team ensures recommendations are scrutinised from all 3Cs perspectives and implementation goes unhindered.

Internal facilitation capability grows as teams multiply and learn from each other.

Phase 5: Embedding as Business as Usual

Transform HPtE from programme to operating system—making collaborative, 3Cs-focused improvement “the way we work around here.” HPtE principles integrate into daily operations, strategic planning, and organisational culture, creating self-sustaining improvement capability.

Who is HPtE For?

HPtE is designed for organisations facing complex stakeholder challenges where traditional approaches have failed:

You might need HPtE if:

  • Union-management relationships are adversarial and blocking progress
  • Industrial action has damaged trust and you need to rebuild
  • Cross-functional silos prevent the collaboration needed for transformation
  • Change initiatives consistently fail despite sound strategy
  • You’re achieving commercial targets but at unsustainable cultural cost
  • You want to build internal capability, not consultant dependency

Sectors where HPtE has proven effective:

  • Aviation (airlines, airports, air traffic control)
  • Healthcare (hospitals, clinical teams, multi-disciplinary services)
  • Manufacturing (production facilities, supply chain, quality)
  • Public sector (local government, multi-agency services, citizen engagement)

The Investment Required

HPtE demands more than budget—it requires genuine leadership commitment.

You can’t delegate transformation. Senior leaders must be visibly engaged, willing to challenge assumptions (including their own), and committed to building partnership rather than maintaining control.

You must give the process time. Trust doesn’t rebuild overnight. Systematic problem-solving takes longer than imposing solutions. But the results are sustainable, not temporary.

You need courage to address real conflicts rather than avoiding them. HPtE works by naming tensions, surfacing interests, and working through complexity—not by pretending differences don’t exist.

The good news: organisations that make this investment don’t just resolve immediate problems. They build lasting capability that transforms how they operate.

What HPtE Delivers

When implemented properly, HPtE produces:

Commercial Results

  • Cost savings through waste elimination and efficiency improvements identified by engaged staff
  • Strike avoidance (compare zero strike days over five years at Air NZ to industry norms)
  • Faster implementation of operational improvements through collaborative design
  • Better commercial decisions through balanced 3Cs analysis

Customer Value

  • Service quality improvements identified by frontline staff closest to customer experience
  • Operational resilience through collaborative problem-solving
  • Innovation driven by those who understand customer needs most deeply

Cultural Transformation

  • Trust replacing suspicion in union-management relationships
  • Collaboration becoming organisational habit, not exceptional event
  • Internal capability to facilitate transformation without external dependency
  • Sustainable high performance, not temporary improvement

Listen to Peter Reidy, CEO and Wayne Butson, RMTU General Secretary explain HPHE, KiwiRail’s version of HPtE.

The Alternative

What’s the cost of not engaging systematically?

Research suggests 42% of management and employee time in adversarial workplaces goes to managing conflict rather than creating value. That’s not a small efficiency loss—it’s an existential threat to competitiveness.

Industrial action costs millions in direct losses and years in damaged relationships. Traditional approaches—impose solutions, negotiate harder, hope for compliance—create temporary peace at best.

The question isn’t whether you can afford HPtE. It’s whether you can afford to continue without it.

Getting Started

HPtE begins with honest conversation about:

  • The conflicts you’re facing and their cost
  • Your readiness for genuine partnership (not just better communication)
  • The leadership commitment you can mobilise
  • The timeline you’re working with
  • What success looks like in your context

From there, we design a tailored approach—often starting with a Discovery Programme that tests methodology fit and builds initial momentum before committing to full transformation.

🚀 Ready to Transform Your Organisation?

Whether you’re facing adversarial industrial relations, seeking to build internal facilitation capability, or looking to join the HPtE practitioner community, we’d like to hear from you.

For Enterprise Enquiries:

If you’re considering HPtE for your organisation, let’s start with a conversation about your specific context and challenges.

Get in touch via LinkedIn to discuss your specific challenges and how systematic partnership development might help.

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/karlgperry

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