In March 2016, National Skills Academy for Rail was re-awarded the prestigious BS 11000 Standard for Collaborative Business Relationships. NSAR was the smallest organisation to achieve BS 11000, the new British Standard for Collaborative Working in May 2013.
NSAR’s successful re-certification of BS 11000 has been a result of the tangible benefits delivered to the organisations with which it partners. In the three-year period since initial certification in 2013, there has been regular audit of embedded best practice by the Standard’s regulative authority BSI. NSAR has consistently demonstrated adherence to the framework’s principles and exhibited the key behaviours that underpin the entire approach: trust and collaboration.
NSAR’s CEO, Neil Robertson said: “NSAR encourages greater use of quality systems in Rail. We work in collaboration with all parts of rail; hence we want to make sure we demonstrate consistency and good practice in our partnerships. BS 11000 helps us do that. “
NSAR and Siemens formed a collaborative partnership to create a brand new, independently branded, training academy that would meet the needs of the wider UK rail industry – including Siemens’ competitors. The partners have adopted the principles of BS11000 as strategic framework to create a Collaboration Agreement, signed in December 2013, through which the partners managed both the building and implemented the operating model.
Steve Scrimshaw, Managing Director, Siemens Rail Systems said: “We have been working with NSAR since 2013 and throughout this time have valued its collaborative approach. Recognising the value of BS 11000 and having the opportunity to work with NSAR in using the standard to build the National Training Academy for Rail (NTAR) has been key in our ability to work well together. Siemens is pleased to hear that NSAR have been re-certified and look forward to further collaboration.”
BS 11000 is a structured framework to help organisations develop and manage their collaborative relationships with other organisations for maximum benefit to all. Using an eight stage approach, the framework is designed to enable organisations of any size and sector to apply best practice principles to its own ways of working to get the very most out of its business relationships.