Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and their partner Mite have won the prestigious IWFM collaboration award for services supporting UK Ministry of Defence Permanent Joint Operating Bases (PJOB) infrastructure support provider operating in Cyprus, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands and Ascension Island.

The IWFM award www.iwfmawards.org ‘recognises best practice in collaborative relationships where multiple parties work together in an innovative, progressive way, to generate an outcome that could not have been achieved by a sole party’.

‘It celebrates partnerships that evidence mutual benefits to all parties while demonstrating tangible benefits for the wider workplace and service operation and the wider business’

By working together with a common goal, Mitie and my DIO teams have ensured that we have a well-managed contract that focuses on delivering a good service for the end customer (which are Defence’s people on the ground).   

Colonel A Tait Deputy Head Permanent Joint Operating Bases and Far East Estate

B2B think that this was  a well-deserved award for the joint Mitie and DIO teams particularly as it is underpinned by over a decade of dedication to collaborative working.

Although it is the joint team that deserve the credit, over 2011-2017 B2B supported them in continually developing and improving their approach, and undertaking direct work with all levels of staff in each of the PJOB overseas bases. That was fun 😊

2010/11 the original tenderer team demonstrate effective collaborative behaviours when B2B undertook the behavioural assessment when they originally tendered for the PJOB contract.

2011 -2012 in the mobilisations for each base, the joint teams launch a process of collaborative relationship building. This involved the engagement of joint team members in the South Atlantic, Cyprus, Gibraltar and the UK and engaging all staff levels in identifying and agreeing the collaborative behaviours all parties would strive to deliver in the future. The programme also undertook maturity assessment to BS11000 and jointly agreed the collaboration priorities with the joint management teams. See our blog John Doyle Goes on Manoeuvres.

2013 The joint team efforts are recognised by obtaining certification at each base to BS11000 and receiving their recognition at the award ceremony in the House of Lords – see our blog House of Lords Salutes winners in ICW Annual Awards.

2015 & 2016 Management and staff team members from every PJOB base participated in the B2B Collaboration Health Check survey testing both collaborative and trust behaviours and each parties’ adherence to collaborative best practice processes. Results were converted into PJOB base-level improvement action plans for the joint management teams to action. These were periodically reviewed in regular on-line reviews. This was followed up with a remeasure a year later and lead to refreshed base-level collaboration improvement plans.

2017 B2B supports the joint teams to gain certification to the IS0 44001 collaboration standard

2017 B2B supported the joint senior management teams in the delivery of a collaborative leadership development programme. Drawing managers from all PJOB bases and the UK HQ, team members exploring the differences between management and leadership behaviours contribution to collaborative working, and agreed both were needed to deliver even higher levels of collaborative performance. The programme facilitated managers to review common leadership themes from models established within the ultimate customer communities of the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. Each managers behaviour was assessed using the collaboration leadership model contained in the guidance standard for ISO 44001 – ISO 44002; a year before the guidance standard was published, and personal improvement actions were agreed with each manager.

Obviously, the joint teams have gone from strength to strength since then. Throughout the decade-long journey the joint delivery teams had high-level leadership encouragement and participation from DIO, the company and Service representation. The close support of the company Performance Manager – Rebecca Stephenson, was key and without whose leadership and encouragement it couldn’t have been done as well.

In B2B view this has got to be the one of the longest systematic collaborative journeys on record. We think it should be entered for award just for that!

John Doyle

Director B2Bppm Ltd