How Collaborative Working reduces risk in complex Australian projects

Across Australian Government, Defence, infrastructure and other complex regulated project environments, major projects rarely fail because organisations lack technical capability. More often, failure is driven by relationship breakdowns, fragmented accountability and misaligned incentives between delivery partners. As projects become larger, more complex and increasingly multi-party, the way business relationships are managed has become a material delivery risk in its own right.

This article is Part 2 in Elysium EPL’s Collaborative Working series. If you’re new to Collaborative Working, read our practical introduction here.

Australia’s project delivery problem is systemic

Australia is now firmly in its megaproject era, with projects valued at $10 billion or more becoming increasingly more common. Recent analysis by Deloitte has found that the latest cost estimates for 13 publicly funded megaprojects have blown out by approximately $130 billion. The Grattan Institute previously reported that, on average, large projects overrun by 30%, significantly higher than smaller initiatives.

While rising material cost and supply-chain pressures are often cited as primary causes, research consistently shows that post-contract scope changes are a major contribution to cost escalation at an average of 24%. These changes are rarely driven by unforeseen technical complexity. Instead, they emerge from poor coordination, late decision-making and fragmented collaboration between organisations that are contractually linked but operationally misaligned.

Why informal collaboration fails in complex projects

Many organisations assume the answer lies in better behaviours, stronger leadership or a renewed focus on culture. While these elements matter, they are not sufficient on their own.

Collaboration is often mistaken for a mindset, rather than a business system.

In the absence of structure, organisations rely heavily on individuals to “make things work”. The focus is on personal relationships, informal workarounds and tacit knowledge, rather than scalable, repeatable, auditable processes. This approach can appear effective in the short term, particularly when key people remain in place and pressure is manageable. However, it creates material delivery risk when conditions change. Specifically, reliance on individuals rather than systems increases exposure during:

• personnel turnover

• supplier or partner change

• multi‑vendor delivery environments

• high-pressure or time critical programs

When collaboration is informal, outcomes are fragile. Knowledge walks out the door, behaviours vary between teams, and governance weakens precisely when programs are under the greatest strain. For Australian Government agencies and infrastructure owners operating in regulated environments, this risk is amplified by probity, assurance and public accountability requirements.

True collaborative working is not ad hoc, or personality driven. It is intentional, systemic, enduring and scalable.

Collaborative Working as a formal business system

Collaborative Working is a formal management system for governing complex business relationships. It establishes clear structures for decision-making, role clarity, behavioural expectations and shared risk management across multiple parties.

Rather than relying on individual effort, the Collaborative Working framework introduces:

• Formal systems, policies, procedures and processes

• A common language and structure across all organisations involved

• Clear governance, performance measurement and agreed ways of working

• Mechanisms to manage relationships across the entire project lifecycle

The ISO 44001 Collaborative Business Relationship Management standard was specifically designed for complex, high risk, multi-vendor delivery environments where traditional contract management alone is insufficient. Regardless of the public or private sector, or the specific industry, case studies in Defence and infrastructure programs show organisations who adopt the framework reduce disputes, improve predictability and strengthen assurance across complex portfolios. Further, entities that apply this approach often find themselves unlocking additional value beyond what was originally planned.

How Collaborative Working reduces risk for key decision‑makers

For procurement officers and contract managers, a structured Collaborative Working framework improves probity, transparency and audit defensibility. It reduces supplier relationship risk and establishes shared expectations before contracts are signed, not after problems emerge.

For project directors and PMOs, it improves delivery predictability in multi‑vendor environments, reduces churn and escalation, and provides governance assurance without the need for constant contract renegotiation.

For executives, it reduces commercial, operational and reputational risk by building repeatable relationship capability that protects continuity beyond individual roles and personnel changes.

In each case, the value comes from replacing informal, individual‑dependent collaboration with a consistent, organisation‑wide system.

Where organisations typically start

Most organisations do not begin by attempting full scale transformation. Instead, Collaborative Working is typically introduced through modular, scalable engagements such as:

• Advisory diagnostics to assess relationship risk and maturity

• Targeted training to establish a shared language and capability

• Design of collaborative governance tailored to specific programs or portfolios

This approach allows organisations to embed structure without disruption, while building confidence and capability over time.

As a capability partner of the ICWA, our experts can assess your readiness and design a practical implementation roadmap that is aligned to your strategic objectives. Contact us for more information.

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Brett Ackroyd

Director

Point of Contact for Collaborative working Practice

An original founder of Elysium EPL, Brett has in excess of 20 years’ experience as a strategic procurement and commercial / legal / organisation design advisor to government and private organisations on large and complex projects. He specialises in the design and implementation of effective supplier engagement agreements and building collaborative commercial working relationships for the delivery of value from complex outcomes.  

Brett has demonstrated success in building and leading multidisciplinary teams delivering complex, multibillion dollar procurement projects and designing collaborative working organisations to deliver strong commercial outcomes. Brett is the Managing Director of the Institute of Collaborative Working in Australia which promotes the adoption of Collaborative Working as a business discipline.