Collaborative Working
Effective organisations are those which have been designed with the benefits and outcomes to be achieved in mind from the very start. Elysium EPL has specialists that work with clients to design organisations through the implementation of a thorough design framework that defines desired outcomes, requirements, and considerations, then an organisational framework to realise them.
Over the next decade the Royal Australian Navy is facing a significant increase in the tonnage and complexity of its fleet coupled with a heightened strategic operating environment. These factors necessitated a change of approach to vessel sustainment to ensure that the future fleet is available when and where it is needed.
In response, the Department of Defence sought to institute a new way to organise the delivery of naval maintenance in Australia.
Core to this new organisation model was common delivery of maintenance for all classes of ships through maintenance centres established in regions, networked together to ensure nationwide commonality and standardisation. This model required diverse elements of industry and Defence to work collaboratively together in an integrated matrixed organisation.
The
Challenge
The challenge was to build an operating model that incorporated the different industry and Defence elements together and built the framework on which a collaborative working culture could develop and endure.
Our Comprehensive Solution
The Elysium EPL team built collaborative working into all aspects of the Regional Maintenance Centre (RMC) business operating model design. The RMC Network Design and Build Plan detailed a Collaborative Working business operating model design and implementation methodology for the RMC Network. This included incorporating collaborative working requirements into the procurement process and evaluating potential industry regional maintenance providers.
Aligning with ISO 44001, each RMC utilised individual Joint Relationship Management Plans (JRMPs) which standardised specific content to be jointly developed by the parties to support the establishment of collaborative working between them, including:
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interrelationships between enterprise participants
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personnel roles and responsibilities, values and behaviours and associated procedures
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communication strategies
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an ARCI matrix (accountable, responsible, consultation and inform matrix) and
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participation in the development of business rules, processes and procedures.
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The JRMPs were then incorporated within an RMC Network-wide Collaborative Business Relationship Management System
(CBRMS) which sought to codify and standardise collaboration as a business management system across the network. The CBRMS address issues such as leadership, advocacy, collaborative working competency, common tools and systems and processes for enabling greater collaboration.
The
Enduring
Value
Elysium EPL built the RMC network business operating model, aligned with ISO 44001, to enhance and promote collaborative working between all the different elements of the Network.
As of June 2023, three Regional Maintenance Centres had been established as well as a business unit for the central coordination and management of the RMC Network. All business relationships were being managed through the CBRMS and the associated JRMPs.