How well are you collaborating? Could you be working better/getting more out of your relationship with your partners and suppliers? And how do you measure collaborative success?
At Sopra Steria, we take working in partnership seriously and have recently achieved the internationally recognised ISO 44001 status. But what is ISO44001, and how will it shape our relationships?
ISO44001 – setting the standard for workplace collaboration
ISO44001 is the recognised international standard for collaborative business relationship management. Basically, it’s all about developing a relationship based on honesty, openness, and trust where shared goals, objectives and priorities are the key focus. It’s a fact that working collaboratively generates major benefits and more value for all parties.
Gaining ISO 44001 proves that an organisation has embraced new and open ways of working – and is committed to delivering the best possible results for all parties. And it’s not a rubber stamp exercise. Organisations have to work really hard to ensure they are ISO44001 compliant – and it’s fast becoming a key requirement in many private and public sector tenders.
No more ‘us and them’ – we’re all on the same team
There’s no set way of collaborating – and each organisation has its own ways of working. But by prioritising an open and honest culture from the start means that everyone feels free to voice their opinions and any issues can be dealt with quickly. So being transparent about both strengths and weaknesses as well as a willingness to tackle any controversial or ‘hot’ topics from the get-go, means that teams work productively together to make change happen. As well as accelerating the pace of change, it also makes working a lot more enjoyable. There’s no more ‘us and them’ – instead it’s all about how ‘we’ can achieve together.
Shaping relationships and strategies for the future
But gaining ISO44001 isn't an easy process, and the journey to achieving certification was pretty hard going. A cross-company Sopra Steria team was set up under the leadership of Sue-Ellen Wright, the Managing Director of Aerospace, Defence and Security, to work on delivering the aims and objectives of ISO44001. Although we already have existing procedures in place to ensure we actively collaborate with our customers, to meet the high standards of the certification, the team had to design, introduce and socialise new policies. This meant the team had to ensure the updates to the way we work were positively received and adopted across the entire organisation. What’s more, they had to impress the ISO44001 assessors during a challenging 2-day audit to show how we have embedded the certification into our approach to prove its worth.
‘As a team, we are delighted that following a successful but tough two-day audit on the 13th and 14th December, the external DNV Auditor recommended us for certification. The ISO44001 certification places us in a great position, allowing us to offer our customers and partners a deeper, longer-term relationship, which leads to more sustainable growth. The adoption of this highly collaborative approach is a fantastic example of us truly living up to our mission statement – the world is how we shape it’ Sue-Ellen Wright.
Interested? To find out how a focus on collaboration can help you, take a look at our client stories or contact us below.