Page 56 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 21

56 FROM THE SOURCE JONATHAN ARMSTRONG
FEBRUARY – MARCH 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
LEFT: Frazer Nash have worked behind the scenes on some of Defence’s largest programs including the Canberra class LHD.
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nuclear power, which is an area that Frazer-Nash has signifi- cant expertise in, and particularly the safety case process with- in the nuclear industry, which is a powerful enabler of change.
It’s the way to get things done rather than being an after the fact compliance activity and a most powerful headspace to bring across into defence because, done well, it’s about convincing a range of stakeholders with a compelling case, supported by rig- orous evidence. That bringing together of breadth and depth is a critical skill in many defence applications. We brought that thinking from industry for the Defence Innovation Hub where we’ve now assessed in the order of 1,000 innovative proposals.
ADM: You’ve grown from a handful of people to now close to 70, what have the growing pains been like as you be- come a larger business?
ARMSTRONG: Building real agility in the leadership team is what you need to do to avoid growing pain. At the beginning you have a directive leadership style. And as you grow you need a leadership team with a dominant coaching leadership style. You let people gain the experience they need to take on-board the responsibility and, critically, to replicate and maintain the culture of the company. That agility in leadership style is key.
As a business that started in the UK it is important to be responsive to the Australian market, to have humility, and not make assumptions. In Australia we have significantly more ac- quisition related services compared to the UK where we have more design related services. That’s fundamentally because Australia buys a significant component of its technology.
That leads me to values. As Frazer-Nash has gone from a UK organisation to an international organisation, you need clear values that hold the company together so that our op- eration in Australia feels like our operation in the UK, whilst being responsive to local markets in which we operate.
And whilst I’ve also taken a consultancy through a signifi- cant period of growth in the UK, you have to avoid tempting shortcuts to growth. You’ll always be faced with opportuni-
ties to grow quite quickly based on hot markets. You have to keep a really strong focus on hiring the people who will sup- port and fit in with your culture, otherwise you’re acting short term rather than long term.
ADM: Moving to that short term to long term foundation, how Defence maintains its maritime fleets, which was the foundation of the Frazer-Nash business here in Australia, is going through an evolution under Plan Galileo; how is that affecting your business?
ARMSTRONG: When we opened our Australian operation 10 years ago, overwhelmingly our business focus was on maritime. It’s still a very important part of our business but we are more diversified across defence now.
Plan Galileo is to take a whole lifecycle approach to sustain- ment, which as a leading systems engineering and technology company, we think that’s a great idea. I believe bringing togeth- er sustainment in regional maintenance centres can give criti- cal mass to the type of specialist skills that might not otherwise be maintained. As an example, around Sydney we’ve brought niche leading analytical techniques to solve some tricky sus- tainment problems like corrosion, airflow modelling over deck for helicopter operations and fire suppression modelling.
ADM: CASG now uses the Major Service Providers (MSP) framework for a lot of their consultancy service. How has that changed the way Frazer-Nash works with Defence? ARMSTRONG: Our strategy is to make a difference by being recognised for excellence and impact in our chosen service ar- eas rather than being number one or number two by size in any market sector. So I’d characterise us under MSP as providing high added value services where it makes sense to do so.
The MSP framework has to work for Defence first and foremost. From our perspective, there are aspects that run counter to our preferred way of doing business. We’ve seen under the MSP framework a drive for role based contract- ing. We’re a true consultancy and prefer to provide outcomes rather than people. Focussing on the outcome incentivises innovation and encourages clear upfront requirements. So
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