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Navigating Culture Change Navy Style When Grant Dale took up his position as Commanding Officer of HMAS Westralia, a fuel and stores supply tanker, in November 2000, the ship had just returned to operational service after extensive repairs following the tragic fire of 1998. Australia's largest Navy ship was back at sea but was hardly operating like a well-oiled machine. Commander Dale was faced with a 100 strong crew with very low performance expectations, manifesting itself into a poor rate of operational achievement and high failure rates of both machinery and systems. Compounding the challenge, the physical appearance of the ship had been neglected during the extensive repair period and she now looked considerably run down. "At that stage the ship was operating with a culture of fear and an expectation of failure," Commander Dale said. "Consequently, the operations of the ship were focused around what we couldn't do, rather than on how we could achieve our operational commitments. "An overly cautious, risk-averse approach to operational safety proved unrealistic and the perception of what was 'unsafe' had become dramatised," Commander Dale said. Other cultural factors that hindered the ship's success included a lack of ownership of problems and the absence of a forward-looking strategic plan. Commander Dale worked at improving the ship's performance through its systems, structures, leadership and culture on board. The results: by the end of his 18-month posting the culture, efficiency and effectiveness of the ship had been transformed. The new culture meant the crew had
Operationally Westralia had
You can hear how Grant Dale achieved these outcomes by attending the 5th Australian Conference on Culture and Leadership.
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