Answer extracted from the Beyond The Plan podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How should business relationship management be structured in major projects?
Collaborative working is a systemic approach to managing business relationships that must be intentional, enduring, and scalable. Organisations need to integrate business relationship management into their overall integrated management system, backed by frameworks like ISO 44001, rather than relying solely on personal relationships that become fragile when individuals change roles or project phases shift.
Why personal relationships alone will fail you
Most project failures happen not during contract negotiation, but after the contract is signed. When relationships exist only between individuals, the entire project delivery depends on their continued presence and goodwill. Remove one person, and the foundation crumbles.
As Brett Ackroyd explores in the episode, the cost of this fragility is real. Australia spends more of its project budget on claims than any other Western nation—a direct result of relationship breakdowns and the adversarial dynamics that follow.
Building systems that outlast individuals
ISO 44001 is the framework most project leaders have never heard of but should have. It provides a structured approach to collaborative relationship management, embedding values and behaviours into organisational systems rather than personalities.
The logic is straightforward: people operate because of their values and their behaviours. Once you have certainty around what those values and behaviours are, you can audit the surrounding systems and processes to identify gaps or barriers that don't support their execution. A systematic approach ensures that when roles change or tensions arise, the relationship framework remains intact.
Evidence of this works appears in real-world projects, such as Scottish Water's collaborative working initiatives, which showed significantly reduced delay times compared to non-collaborative projects—proof that intention and structure deliver measurable results.
"You will know a collaborative culture exists when one party will take it on themselves to actually act to their detriment for the other party, because that allows for the achievement of the overall outcome."
Brett Ackroyd — Commercial Lawyer with 25 to 26 years of experience in major defence and government projects. Ackroyd has spent significant time working within large organisations managing complex project delivery outcomes, with particular focus on moving projects to success after contract execution rather than relying solely on contractual terms.
This insight—that true collaboration means acting against immediate self-interest for the collective good—cannot be legislated by contract. It emerges only when values, systems, and processes align. Listen to the full conversation to explore specific methods elite delivery teams use to implement these frameworks at scale.
See also
What defines a collaborative working culture in complex project delivery?
A collaborative working culture exists when people will act in situations without certainty of their commercial outcome to the benefit of the overall project outcome. It's a mindset and system working together.
Key takeaways
- Business relationship management must be integrated into organisational systems, not left to chance personal connections.
- ISO 44001 provides a structured framework for collaborative relationship management across complex projects.
- When project teams align values, behaviours, and supporting processes, relationship stability survives role changes and project phases.
- Collaborative cultures deliver measurable results, as seen in reduced delay times on projects using structured relationship frameworks.