They say it takes two to tango, and when it comes to cross-business collaborations the key to success is making sure you’re going in the same direction.
This month we caught up with a couple of dynamic duos from across Morris Group businesses who work together on regular collaboration, long-term projects, or in their day-to-day operations and find out why it pays off being in step with one another.
The first two
Grace & Brent: Morris Hospitality X CBCo collabs
Who are they
Grace Dorman: Head of Marketing and Sales, Morris Hospitality
Brent Mortimer: Head of Marketing, CBCo Brewing
How and why they collaborate
GRACE: We try to collaborate as often as makes sense for both businesses and luckily, we have a few pubs to share the promotions across which means we can create more opportunities. We try to work to something big every quarter, but there’s usually more opportunity in between. Strategically, it’s simple: CBCo makes beer, and we sell it. So, let’s sell as much as possible and everyone wins.
BRENT: A recent collab between CBCo and Morris Hospitality was the fantastic execution of the Melbourne F1 activation at The Albert Park Hotel. We started with a simple conversation around an opportunity and from there it grew to an impactful execution with fantastic branding and sales results. We’ve already started working together for next year’s F1 – just wait until you see next year’s activation!
How they make it happen
GRACE: The promotions are built into our yearly calendar, so it’s usually Brent and I catching up to see what’s on the horizon and what we can make of it. Plenty goes on behind the scenes, usually involving people from both our teams, as well as our respective designers working together to make it all make sense. It’s the good part of working under the Morris Group umbrella: we’re essentially one big team who can all pull in the same direction.
BRENT: It’s about balancing the multi-department dance, ensuring strong communication and clear deliverables. Basically, ensuring everyone knows the ‘whos’, ‘whats’, ‘whens’ and ‘wheres’. For the F1 example it involved working with Morris Hospitality marketing, design and the venue and with CBCo marketing, design as well as a third party who produced some amazing point-of-sale assets.
Their personal role in the collaboration
GRACE: For me personally, it’s about communication and making sure that we’re balancing the benefits of the activations 50/50. It needs to make sense for our venues, but it also needs to make sense for Brent and the CBCo team. We’re lucky that we are both straightforward communicators so if something doesn’t work, we raise it and adapt the offering to suit. Aside from that, my other responsibility is to make sure I have buy-in from the relevant stakeholders, whether that’s the venue leaders or our senior leadership team. And finally, to oversee the roll-out and make sure we pull off an interesting, commercially successful brand activation.
BRENT: I’m responsible for ensuring that the CBCo brand is executed according to our strategy and any collabs elevate both the brand and whatever particular partner it is with. I need to stay across all the facets from physical POS as well as the go-to market or activation strategy.
Some challenges along the way
GRACE: The challenges are pedestrian ones, which don’t make them any less challenging but make them relatively easy to resolve. For us, we’re all busy and whilst we are all pulling in the same direction, we do have competing priorities. So, it’s about making sure we’re communicating each step of the way so that we can get on top of the challenges as they arise.
BRENT: Initially the challenges were that we didn’t think to collab. But spending time getting to know Grace and her team really made it clear to both of us that there are some synergies and some really easy wins we can get collectively if we work together.
The big picture benefits
GRACE: It’s nice to see how different teams work in a marketing sense. Everyone has different processes and people, so we can collaborate and learn from each other constantly. I’m often looking at the other ways the marketing teams function and are led and asking myself if I can implement any of their processes or add a new way of working with my team based on something I’ve seen another team do.
BRENT: I think it’s beneficial to see other parts of the business, how they operate and things that I can drag and drop into my day-to-day. It also makes it easier when your cross-department peers are really keen to collab and are marketing rockstars in their own right! It’s great for us to share knowledge. We have a wealth of experience across the group and tapping into this across multiple departments broadens our reach, impact and our knowledge. Personally, I really enjoy the learning opportunities working with peers.
The next two
Janhavi & Debbie: The JobAdder Project
Who are they
Janhavi (Jan) Gohil: Implementation Specialist, Morris Group
Debbie Dekroo: General Manager – People & Culture, The Ville Resort-Casino
The reason behind JobAdder project
DEBBIE: Given the significant growth of Morris Group’s businesses over recent years, including opening Ardo, there has been a consistently high volume of recruitment activity which is ongoing and increasing. We recognised that our businesses had outgrown our old manual processes for managing recruitment, and the JobAdder software was identified as a suitable solution for automating the process.
JAN: There was a business case put together to review JobAdder as a recruitment software solution to the challenges the teams were having with recruitment. There were very manual processes that took too long and were slowing down the time it took to hire new staff. The lack of centralised information in the recruitment process was leading to inconsistencies in data, processes, and forecasting. The existing system also didn’t have the ability to search in the platform for any previous applicants who might have been suitable for new roles which meant most vacancies needed to be readvertised every time which increased the costs and slowed down the process.
DEBBIE: Ultimately, we are competing in the labour market to hire the best available talent to suit business needs, so the efficiency, timeliness and effectiveness of our recruitment processes becomes really important.
Their role in the project
JAN: I worked as project lead to make sure the solution and implementation is useful for all entities across Morris Group. With my experience of working with recruitment software, I was very happy to work on the project and help the business improve its recruitment processes.
DEBBIE: With Jan as our project lead, I worked with the People & Culture team at The Ville precinct to help set up the JobAdder system to suit our business operations. Then my team and I worked together with approximately 70 hiring managers within our business to help them implement JobAdder as their new way of recruiting.
How it all came together
JAN: The project really started with the teams from The Ville and Morris Hospitality. Soon after, all the businesses had been brought on board and each business recommended a person from their team to be involved and lead the implementation. This ensured that we were meeting every business’ needs.
DEBBIE: Jan was crucial in the project, working with JobAdder’s implementation specialist and making sure our system was set up effectively to suit what everyone needed from the platform. My People & Culture team here at The Ville have worked closely with our hiring managers across all departments to help them with training and support to implement the system. It’s taken close to 12 months from the point when the business case was developed through to the roll-out.
The difference the platform is making
DEBBIE: JobAdder has been very well received amongst our team. People are finding that it’s resulting in more timely recruitment and helping them manage candidate applications better (i.e. applications can’t get lost). But most of all it’s removed a lot of inefficient manual process that were time consuming, repetitive, and left room for human error. It’s just made the whole process much more effective and efficient.
JAN: So far, we’ve found that the platform has reduced administrative tasks by about 50 percent so it’s saving people a huge amount of time. The way all users have embraced the software and are continuously trying to improve or automate process has proven the project has been a success. I still get questions from different businesses to implement a scenario that wasn’t considered earlier, and I love being able to support them. That kind of engagement proves that the system is being used to its full potential.
What the experience has been like
DEBBIE: This project has been a great opportunity to develop working relationships with key stakeholders and engage with people from other parts of Morris Group that I wouldn’t otherwise get to work with. It’s been great tapping into different people’s strengths and experience to deliver project that benefits everyone in the end.
JAN: The success of adopting any new system can vary greatly and depends on how involved the users are in the implementation process. Having representatives from all the involved businesses on board and working on solutions that worked for the whole group and not just each individual entity helped make this implementation go smoothly. In particular, having Debbie and her team involved right from the beginning made a big difference. I really enjoyed working on this project. Everyone approached JobAdder with a positive mindset and truly made an effort to get it right.
The last two
Phoebe & Harriet: Day-to-day with Mt Mulligan and Nautilus
Who are they
Phoebe Egan: General Manager, Mt Mulligan Lodge
Harriet Burns: Operations Coordinator, Nautilus Aviation
How they collaborate on a daily basis
HARRIET: Part of my role involves organising seamless helicopter transfers for guests at Mt Mulligan Lodge. Phoebe and I coordinate regularly to confirm booking details, schedule transfers based on flight times and ensure that guests have a smooth and hassle-free experience, from the moment they check in to the moment they arrive at their destination.
PHOEBE: On a regular day we mostly communicate if there are any issues or guests requiring a pick-up from the airport or the hotels. Probably the times we collaborate the most is when we have weather issues that require a change in plans, whether that means changing the times of flights, or cancelling and making new arrangements.
Why it’s important for them to work together
PHOEBE: Us working together means that our mutual guests have the best experience from the moment they’re first collected by Nautilus and flown over for their arrival at the property.
HARRIET: Without clear communication and coordination, we’d risk missing vital details, such as transfer times or any guest preferences. Having that open communication between us allows us to be flexible and proactive which ultimately reduces errors and ensures that we provide seamless service.
How it benefits our guests
PHOEBE: Happy guests are what we are all about! Being able to effectively communicate will always benefit guests and ensure the smoothest operation possible.
HARRIET: The benefit for guests is a stress-free experience. Because we collaborate closely, the guest doesn’t have to worry about the logistics of getting from the airport to their destination. Everything is taken care of, whether it’s booking the transfer in advance, accommodating any last-minute changes, or providing a comfortable, on-time flight.
What challenges they’ve face together
HARRIET: One challenge we face from time to time is dealing with last-minute changes or delays, such as unexpected weather conditions, or unscheduled maintenance and things like that. These can cause a delay in the passenger’s flight, potentially curtailing their time at the lodge. But, we overcome this by keeping in constant communication and always having a back-up plan. Phoebe is always on hand to help organise road transfers, or even fixed wing. Having Phoebe as a direct point of contact is incredibly valuable when it comes to coordinating with guests at Mt Mulligan.
PHOEBE: The weather can be challenging, particularly during the wet season. We can only do what we can do, but Harriet and the Nautilus team are always happy to help out with ground transfers if we need to switch to a fixed wing.
What they’ve learned from working together
HARRIET: I’ve learned that flexibility and having a problem-solving mindset are key. There will always be challenges, but by working together, we’re able to resolve them quickly and keep things running smoothly.
PHOEBE: For me, it’s so nice to know I can reach out to Harriet if I need anything sorted quickly as she is always right onto anything I ask for.