CMDR John Metzl (author)
The system used by the Royal Australian Navy to measure its progress towards its strategic objectives has captured the attention of Pakistan’s Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Mohamad Asif Sandila.
Admiral Sandila, the highest ranking officer in the Pakistan Navy, became interested in the RAN’s Strategy Management System while hosting Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, in Pakistan in February. ADM Sandila’s interest was so great that he sent a four person delegation to Australia in September to learn more about the system.
The delegation, led by Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Training & Evaluation), Vice Admiral Sayyid Khawar, spent time in Sydney and Canberra, hosted by VADM Griggs’s Navy Strategy Executive Team.
The visit allowed the Pakistan Navy delegation and its Australian hosts to compare the strategic performance management systems used by the two countries. The RAN adopted an ‘Enterprise Risk’ approach in 2012, as a precursor to the release of the Navy Strategy 2012-2017. The approach measures the Navy’s delivery of capability to Government in the context of meeting its current and future strategic objectives.
While in Australia, the Pakistani delegation took the opportunity to visit Fleet Headquarters, the RAN Test and Evaluation Authority, HMAS Watson, the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, Border Protection Command, Joint Combined Training Capability and the Australian Defence Force Academy. VADM Khawar received briefs on New Generation Navy, Navy Leadership and Ethics, the Australian Defence Force Chaplain Training Continuum and Navy Strategy Executive.
“I was very impressed by the openness and frankness of the members of the Australian Defence Force during my visit. The professionalism, warmth and hospitality is something that I will never forget and I hope that I have the opportunity to reciprocate during a Royal Australian Navy visit to Pakistan in the future,” VADM Khawar said.
“We have learnt a great deal from our visit and my team has many good ideas that we can apply to the work we are doing in the Pakistan Navy. It was a very personally and professionally rewarding visit that continues to strengthen the bonds between our two Navies,” he said.
VADM Griggs said “This visit has nurtured and developed our professional relationship with the Pakistan Navy”.
“It is vitally important that we work closely with other navies to share and develop tools that have been shaped by our experiences.”
“The tool developed by the Navy Strategic Executive team will provide our senior leaders with a holistic view of Navy’s performance. This will allow us to be the professional and capable Navy that the Australian people expect us to be,” VADM Griggs said.