Page 28 - Cormorant Issue 19 - 2016

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Life After Defence – Serco Support to MOD
Mr Francis Milton and Wg Cdr Paul Yates RAF
THE COMMAND ‘GOLDEN THREAD’ is a subtle but important part of the Advanced Command and Staff Course. Extending beyond the initial Command, Leadership and Management (CLM) Phase at the beginning of ACSC, this enduring theme helped to focus the students’ minds
both on the lessons of previous individual experiences, and also on tasks they may have beyond the course. Command ‘golden thread’ lectures are dispersed throughout the course and form a steady backdrop to the varied array of lectures throughout the year.
Continuing this theme into – and beyond – MOD, the Editorial team interviewed the former Air Vice-
perspective on CLM, including the differences and challenges he has met throughout his career was an ideal opportunity.
We began by asking whether his leadership
and management style had changed across his experience of senior leadership in both his military career and his more recent commercial sector roles?
“It has changed. The trappings of resilience in the Armed Forces disappear overnight. ... Arriving at Serco was like a conductor coming into an orchestra when they’re already playing and you’ve got to assert your direction without interrupting the music. Motivations of people are different. The altruism you commonly get in the military and the civil service is still there, but it is different.”
Matt emphasised the ruthless nature of business, and the frenetic pace of change:
“As a company it is ruthless; it has to be. If I don’t bring in business for the shareholder I’m out, and so are a whole load of other people. You have to nd a way of maintaining your business, keep your good people, even when the customer works in mysterious ways, and give a return to the shareholder. [...] If it doesn’t work there is nowhere to hide... If you’re not performing, you’re gone.”
So how do you motivate your team?
“People like to be motivated. .... We have to engage them, tackle their problems; all the things you would recognise in military leadership. A particular challenge we have is that there are two types of Serco employees, those who have joined Serco deliberately, and those who came to us as we took
“
Serco Reservists
over a contract. With the latter group it can be hard to get them to identify with the company. ... Their loyalty is often to the customer, often to the armed Service they work for or base they’re on, which can of course be a strength.”
So if you were to return to uniform would you do anything differently as a result of this experience? “I would. I think, certainly in the latter days, I let a
little bit too much go past. There is so much more the MOD could gain by getting the relationship between the user community and their supply base right. .... MOD is squandering an opportunity for a better partnership – largely through ignorance. I have Army Of cers seconded to Serco for six months at
a time (I offered the same to the RAF and Navy but they declined), and their time with us is really quite powerful. They leave with a far better idea of how to exploit their relationship with the private sector. How many people in your own Service really understand what the motivators are in the private sector? Not many – they don’t play in this game. We’re offering
a free service to the military by letting them in to see how these highly relevant processes work – and naturally they’re not that interested because they’re focussed on their next assignment which will probably have nothing to do with contracting. I think the
Marshal and Managing Director Defence for Serco UK, and newly appointed Vice President of Leidos, one Matt Wiles. Matt’s experience provides a unique perspective both in MOD and the commercial sector working with Defence. As emphasis on the Whole Force Concept increases, his
in business for the shareholder I’m
If I don’t bring
out... ◆◆◆
Matt Wiles