MBDA Case Study

"Coaching is all about hearing from the client in their words. I-coach academy are therefore grateful to MBDA for allowing us to use the text of the article from their in-house magazine "Vector" on a coaching programme that i-coach academy ran for them. This programme was an innovative programme because half of the participants were from MBDA (private sector) and half from Defence (Armed Forces and Civil Service).

A changing ethos of shared learning

The ACT (Applied Coaching Techniques) programme is the first step in shared learning with the customer. The course itself covers applied coaching techniques, introducing delegates to coaching as a leadership style to improve people management and as an approach to enhance their teams’ performance. As Steve Wadey, Executive Group Director – Technical states: “We are now starting to see and feel the benefits of our Memorandum of Understanding with DCMT (Defence College of Management and Technology) and Cranfield University. The understanding, respect and trust being seen on these programmes will allow the participants to develop the partnering behaviours we need to support our mutual commitment to the Team CW ethos.”

This year, 10 MBDA representatives, plus service personnel and IPT Leaders drawn from various projects, attended a five-day course (over 4 months) at Shrivenham. Course attendee Ian Griffin, Head of Commercial Medical and General Supplies IPT, stated: “It brought an opportunity to identify each other’s goals and objectives and agree a single objective that promotes the success of both parties.” This co-operation gave another dimension to each other’s challenges and, as it continued, it became more apparent that these were not so different after all. “The military are waking up that there’s more than one way to lead,” comments Squadron Leader Mark Renshaw. “We can adapt how we lead, manage and communicate, and you learn that by doing courses like this one.”

The overriding benefit from this course, though, was the opportunity for interaction, providing “new tools in the tool box” to apply to everyday behaviours back in the workplace. “It’s all about communication,” declares Mark Renshaw. “We are now communicating better and it’s not rocket science.” This also resulted in a better understanding of each others’ predicaments. “We have to recognise that we’re still individual entities and what drives both parties may not be completely compatible, but not diametrically opposed,” states Ian Griffin.

For all attendees, the small group work appeared to provide added benefit to the networking aspect. As Graham Gardiner, Head of Facilities Management MBDA, remembers, “Naturally the groups intermingled, which has always got to be good – a melting pot of managerial techniques.” As course attendee Nicola Smith, HR Manager MBDA, noted, the course gave her the confidence to use these coaching skills: “You are living the course, since it is based on real experiences, our own live examples.”

“Our employees have benefited greatly from attending these courses, both from a personal and a professional development point of view,” concludes Steve Wadey. “MBDA too has benefited by gaining a much better understanding of how the Acquisition community works and we wish to build on these foundations to foster a long-term relationship with MoD, one that allows us to work together more effectively to deliver better defence capability."