WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY
MY CLIENTS INCLUDE
FACILITATING
“Bryan has been a great partner to work alongside. We have appreciated his sage and practical guidance around the development of our risk documents, and we now have an excellent framework to guide our strategic and operational intent.”
Mark Turley, Chief Executive Officer, Living My Way
“Bryan’s unique thought leadership shifted my perspective and took my understanding of risk to a new level. He helped our board and management team produce simple, usable risk artefacts, perfectly aligned to our strategy, board and management needs.”
Huw Thomas, Chairman & Non-Executive Director, Living My Way
“Bryan helped us explore some of our team decision making processes. His expertise and collaborative approach ensured we have a strong foundation for developing our strategies and plans to develop our decision support systems. Personally, I found it a really interesting project to work on, as did the teams involved who are already putting into practice the valuable insights they gained.”
Dr. Damian Weekers, Assistant Director – Science for Management, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
“We developed a strong long-term relationship with Bryan as he helped us to accelerate our approach to managing risk. He did an excellent job helping us navigate through various options with our board and senior leadership team to develop and operationalise our risk appetite and to establish a community of practice to embed risk-based decision making.”
Kathleen Ryan, Executive Director Clinical Governance & Information Services, Mid North Coast Local Health District
“Bryan is a professional and strong facilitator who relates well to staff at all levels. As a regular facilitator for Austrade, he teases out critical issues to ensure that the objectives from each session are consistently achieved to a high level. Bryan’s mentoring capabilities have enabled us to progress large projects effectively, after only a few short and sharp sessions – clarifying scope, roles, deliverables and efficient strategies for getting the job done.”
David Moore, A/g Group Manager Business Effectiveness, Austrade Canberra
“I have used Bryan Whitefield as an adviser, consultant and facilitator for more than ten years. The New Zealand Local Authority Protection Programme Disaster Fund has used Bryan’s services for more than twenty years.
Bryan’s skill as a facilitator is that he keeps the meeting focused, he steers the group to make decisions, and he gets those decisions recorded. In part this happens because he comes to these meetings having done his homework, but also because he has the rare skill of keeping everyone engaged and finding consensus where many would not be able to do so.”
Tim Sole, MBA, ANZIFF (Fellow) CIP FIAA, Civic Assurance
“The Local Authority Protection Programme (LAPP), a charitable trust in New Zealand created to assist member local governments finance the rebuilding of underground assets catastrophically damaged in natural disasters, including playing a major role in assisting councils that suffered immense damage in the Christchurch earthquakes, held a Strategic Planning Meeting on 2nd May 2016.
Bryan Whitefield was engaged to prepare for, plan, manage and facilitate the day. His preparation was meticulous and the day successful. Bryan demonstrated a complete understanding of the issues confronting LAPP. His facilitation was first-class and stimulated a high level of participation by creating a relaxed, lively environment. The meeting finished in a timely manner with all participants satisfied that all opinions had been covered. Bryan’s final report was comprehensive, timely and will become an important planning document for the future.
It was a successful exercise significantly enhanced by the expertise and skill of Bryan.”
Kinsley Sampson, Local Authority Protection Programme (LAPP)
“Mr Whitefield has been engaged by the Institute to undertake a number of facilitations and development projects. The continued engagement in itself attests to the quality of his work and his well developed experience in the areas of risk management and business planning. The added advantage has been that as an adjunct he has provided staff with mentoring in the specific areas of expertise. His simplistic approach to mentoring has meant that those officers have developed at a much faster rate than had they been instructed.”
Jeff Hobson, Director Corporate Services, AIATSIS
“RMP helped us review our thinking on risk management, bringing a more strategic approach to the way we view our risks and opportunities. Bryan’s style and pragmatic approach ensures board, management and staff feel confident with understanding the complexities of supervising and managing risk.”
Deborah Hoffman, General Manager, Research and Planning, Cerebral Palsy Alliance
“Bryan worked with the Sustainable Fisheries section at the Department of Environment and Water on an important decision mapping process to capture the supply chain for the coral harvest fishery in Queensland. This involved complex ‘on water’ and ‘on land’ processes as well as multiple jurisdictional data handling. Bryan navigated this process in a calm, systematic way which made the whole process very cathartic and organised. Bryan also assisted in a face to face workshop with the fishing industry, helping to incorporate their knowledge and practices as part of the decision map. The end result covered the needs of government and industry and will pave the way for a fit for purpose traceability system.”
Jessica Hoey, Director – Sustainable Fisheries, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
“Very useful session, well facilitated. Currently auditing risk management so this will assist in the structure and target of the report.”
Cameron Smith, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
“Bryan designed and implemented an enterprise risk management framework for Electrix, which involved training and risk profiling workshops with our staff throughout Australia. He was very easy to work with and used his wealth of experience to develop a framework specific for our needs and training modules that were well received and understood by our staff. Bryan also kept to the programme, meeting all of our deadlines. We definitely could not have achieved what we did without Bryan’s assistance.”
Joe Warren, General Manager Australia, Electrix Pty Ltd
“Bryan has been fantastic for us, he has been very influential. He has challenged our thinking and has worked really well at all levels of our organisation. He has been a breath of fresh air around risk management and changing thinking about risk as a value add and a real cultural function of the organisation. He has really revitalised our discussion around risk at Beyond Blue.”
Mark Burke, Chief Business Officer, Beyond Blue
“Bryan facilitated a workshop for our executive team in order to make Risk Management an integral, business as usual activity, as opposed to a standalone activity which is only considered at certain times. Bryan was able to portray Risk, and Risk Management in a number of different ways, which sparked a number of interesting discussions, and resulted in us identifying a number of initiatives which will assist in the our goal of integrating Risk Management into day to day business activities.”
Robert Ferris, General Manager, Electrix Ltd
“First Title engaged Risk Management Partners (RMP) to assist in reviewing its Risk Management Framework. This review entailed the important task of facilitation of Risk Management workshops with each division; identification of Risk Champions in each division; the identification and assessment of risk and the development of the risk culture within the organisation. We found RMP’s experience and exposure to various risk environments to be of great assistance in achieving our objectives in our review.”
Chris Tyler, CEO, First Title
“Bryan Whitefield facilitated a one-day workshop for FM Global on Becoming a Trusted Adviser for our BDMs, Account Managers and Senior Engineers. His knowledge of FM Global was excellent and he challenged our staff to think outside the box and explore different perspectives of our key messages for our customers. Bryan’s open and honest approach and articulate presentation made the workshop engaging and our participants will use many of their new skills and knowledge as they build their roles at FM.”
Russell Carson, Vice President; Manager Business Development Asia-Pacific Operations, FM Global
“G&S engaged Bryan to facilitate a broad Business Risk session with our Executive Team. Through the addition of Bryan’s extensive Risk Management knowledge and his well tuned facilitation skills our team reviewed and updated our corporate business risk system tools and completed a review of our business risks, current treatment plans and prioritised our residual risk areas. I wouldn’t hesitate to utilise Bryan’s services again or to recommend his consultancy to other organisations.”
Tim Magoffin, General Manager Maintenance & Mining Services, Maintenance & Mining, Mackay, G & S Engineering
“Thank you Bryan for an excellently facilitated session with our leadership group on the fundamentals of risk management and risk culture including a well-planned and managed business-specific case study. Bryan’s experience and ability to lead the session provided great insights and was highly valued by the team.”
Risk Officer, Insurance Company
“Thank you Bryan for your business-minded approach to risk management and your engaging presentation style in our Risk Leadership Session. We have had lots of great feedback from the team today.”
Organisational Development Leader, Insurance Company
“I had the pleasure of attending Bryan Whitefield’s Winning Conversation Workshop delivered for Leadership Think Tank recently. Bryan’s style of facilitation was totally engaging and thought provoking. The Models shared by Bryan at the workshop has really assisted my preparation for meetings and my confidence has grown as a result. A very valuable, worthwhile workshop. Thank you so much!”
Catherine Shaw, Founder, Positive Living Skills
“Bryan worked with the Qld Department of the Premier and Cabinet to help us put in place a rigorous strategic risk framework. To be honest, I was dreading it. I’ve been through this so many times in other contexts with the end result never hitting the mark. But this was different. Bryan’s pre-work with the executive team was thorough. His workshops were engaging. And most of all he held us to maintaining a strategic view of our risks and our risk appetite. He listened, strived to understand our fairly unique context, and played back for us a framework we can genuinely use to manage the department. And in the process he restored my faith that there are risk consultants capable of creating pragmatic yet effective frameworks. Well, one anyway.”
Mike Kaiser, Director-General, Queensland Department of the Premier and Cabinet
“Bryan presented us with an engaging, informative and practical workshop on risk management. His wide business knowledge was clearly evident throughout and the benefits for integrating risk management into business activities were compelling. Thanks Bryan for a great day!”
Jonathan Whitham, Senior Risk Manager, QSuper
“Ronald McDonald House Charities utilised the services of Bryan to develop a comprehensive risk profile for our organisation. The CEO and leadership team were very impressed with Bryan’s professional approach and his ability to facilitate a workshop involving people with a wide variety of risk knowledge and resulting in a risk profile that everyone understood and felt that they had contributed to. Bryan ensured that the end result was a relevant and workable document and risk tool for our organisation.”
Barbara Ryan, Program Manager, Ronald McDonald House Charities
“I believe you go into this type of workshop with the expectation the facilitator will know their business and deliver in a professional and relevant manner. However the point of difference for me was the follow up which was immediate & extremely helpful.”
Deirdre Brown, Executive Officer, Ronald McDonald House Canberra
“Bryan recently facilitated a board and senior management risk workshop for Summer Housing. Summer Housing has enjoyed rapid success in a highly regulated market, working with government and a diverse range of stakeholders including vulnerable Australians. The workshop occurred at a critical time in our history with the imminent arrival of a new CEO and with some key strategic decisions ahead for the organisation. It was an extremely effective and productive workshop. The preparatory work done by Bryan was thorough and ensured that the workshop immediately got down to business and wasted no time. Bryan identified a small number of themes that steered and directed our discussions in the right direction. His style was easy to work with – best described as disciplined but with a warm and easy going approach. We expect to do follow up work with him as we reflect on the outcomes of the workshop.”
Trevor Danos, AM FTSE, Chair, Audit and Risk Committee, Summer Housing
“The Risk workshop was excellent. For a potentially difficult subject Bryan’s style was very informal, relaxed and engaging for all participants. As a team we developed the majority of the risk profiles during the workshop leaving only a small amount of homework to finish it off. A great result.”
Ross Bingham, CEO, Ronald McDonald House Newcastle, Ronald McDonald House Tamworth
“A great overview on what can be an extremely complex and in-depth topic.”
Joanne Bartlett, Senior Systems Engineer, SAGE Automation
“Exceeded expectations and will be incorporated and supported.”
Mark Stranglo, NSW Engineering Manager, SAGE Automation
“Bryan Whitefield facilitated a Risk Workshop for the South East Sydney Local Health District on 4 July 2016. He provided a useful conceptual framework for the workshop and worked closely with members of the board and the executive in its preparation. During the workshop he was a tactful, firm and constructive presence, steering the discussion into consistently useful channels and hitting upon the right words to crystalise and express the committee’s thoughts. The result was just what was wanted, namely a clear list of the principal risks as the board identified them, with associated justifications. We were all most satisfied.”
Patricia Azarias, Chair, Audit and Risk Committee, South East Sydney Local Health District
“Working in teams and using real on-the-job examples worked well and really emphasised key points.”
Alison Breen, Suncorp Bank
“The content was presented in a way that I could apply it to my role and recognise ways of implementation and use.”
Kelly Cummins, First Line Risk Advisor to Banking Risk, Suncorp Bank
“The course contained great information for me to take away and use in my role. Thank you, the course was excellent.”
Kayla Palmero, Risk Specialist, Suncorp Bank
“Well presented, relevant, informative, punctual.”
Adam Purvis, Change Leader, Suncorp Bank
“Fantastic 2 days – well worth the investment. Thought provoking and well delivered.”
Stephen Smith, Suncorp Bank
“Bryan was engaging and provided a number of key resources and tools to assist with building our knowledge as trusted advisors for the Bank.”
Tracey Thomas, Risk and Controls Advisor, Suncorp Bank
“The session was great and I appreciated the way you kept us moving, dealt with things with humour and made sure we stayed on track to get the actions we wanted out of our short time together.”
Helen McNeil, Chief Risk Officer, Suncorp NZ
“Working with Bryan helped our Board and Executive better unpack our risks and determine our risk appetite. Bryan demystifies risk concepts and identifies practical ways forward. The result was a realistic risk appetite which enhanced the quality and effectiveness of our strategic decisions.”
Elizabeth Crouch AM, Chair, The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network
“Bryan Whitefield assisted the executive and the Board of UnityWater to develop a Risk Appetite Statement to help in our decision making and overall governance. His strong facilitation skills helped to guide everyone towards a common understanding of our risk appetite.”
Valerie King, Manager Risk and Assurance, UnityWater
“I thoroughly recommend Risk Management Partners. Bryan quickly brought us up to speed with the key enterprise risk management principals and guided us through the process. His facilitation skills were great and helped us get to the bottom of our business risks as well as identify practical opportunities to improve our business.”
Glenn Hoen, CFO, Upstream Print Solutions
“Bryan did a fantastic facilitation of our enterprise risk review. Really helped to get the ball rolling in this space for us.”
Adam Blatch, YMCA of Sydney
“Mr Whitefield became familiar with the National Archives’ business and structure in a very short period of time and facilitated a very successful workshop. The staff and the Executive were very impressed with his expertise and the professionalism of his approach. The Archives would be pleased to engage the services of Mr Whitefield in the future.”
Danielle Wickman, Director, Corporate Governance
TRAINING
“Fantastic methodology that I can start practising straight away. Great practical tools that make sense.”
Jessica Doyle, Head of Safety, Sydney Opera House
“Bryan gets it. He is considered and comprehensive.”
Paul White, Australia Post
“This is a great interactive session that makes you think. You are pushed to be outside of your comfort zone but safely. Definitely recommend this course.”
Janice Smith, Chief Financial Officer, Far North District Council
“The influencing skills are applicable for influencing your kids all the way to a 2-star general. Valuable information taught at a level easy to understand.”
Terry Benitez, Contracts Administrator, ALSPO Department of Defence
“Action-packed day full of great, relatable content that can be applied to any business.”
Nick Barclay, Senior Risk Analyst, Australia Post
“Bryan delivered the content through activities that engaged the audience to educate in the art of persuasion.”
Connor Wilson, Integration Liaison Officer, ALSPO Department of Defence
“Awesome course I will use daily.”
Margaret Russell, Contracts Administrator, ALSPO Department of Defence
“A very practical approach to the subject with lots of easy to understand stories and examples.”
Paul Jordan, Propulsions Centre of Expertise, ALSPO Department of Defence
“Well presented and provided new tools and techniques that can be used in both personal and professional environment.”
Saurabh Adhiya, Service Manager, Aon Risk Solutions
“Some great insights into the art of effective communication.”
Aaron Sparkes, Client Manager and Team Leader, Aon Risk Solutions
“You will feel more accomplished by the end of the session.”
Brittany Cheyne, Assistant Service Manager, Aon Risk Solutions
“I thoroughly enjoyed the session. Great content, thought-provoking ideas delivered with workable simplicity.”
Delene Kemp, Assistant Service Manager, Aon Risk Solutions
“Excellent storyteller, engaging, simple but very effective session. Believe nothing but try everything.”
Jibu Mammen, Service Manager, Aon Risk Solutions
“Bryan has helped us design training courses that are well researched and practical. He has also delivered training for us and his dynamic, vibrant style ensured our staff were well engaged which produced excellent results.”
David Moore, A/g Group Manager, Business Effectiveness (Austrade Canberra)
“As the author and facilitator of two BMT Design and Technology Risk Training Workshops, Bryan was engaging and informative, created great interaction and used interesting visual aids to clearly deliver relevant and real –life examples and content. He kept the two days running at a good pace and succeeded in showing our participants the relevance of risk management to their work.”
Karyn Agius, Human Resources, BMT Design and Technology
“Bryan led a full day workshop for our Marketing Team, and their Finance and HR Business Partners. We saw an opportunity for our Marketing Team to increase their effectiveness through communicating to internal stakeholders and agency partners more concisely and persuasively. The Persuasive Adviser program was perfect for this. Bryan is an engaging presenter, and the concepts he shared were highly relevant and helpful for the team. Our team overwhelmingly agreed that the program was enjoyable and that the material has helped them become more effective as an ‘Adviser’ in our business.”
Sarah Ryan, Marketing Director, Campbell Arnott’s
“The session provided a range of very practical skills and insights which can help shape how to communicate with your teams and leaders.”
John Meeker, Principal Urban Regeneration Advisor, Christchurch City Council
“Thanks for such exciting training Bryan, I really enjoyed it. I learnt great tips and tools that I can use in the business.”
Savi Munasinghe, Senior Manager, Technology Governance, Risk & Compliance, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation
“Very useful session, well facilitated. Currently auditing risk management so this will assist in the structure and target of the report.”
Cameron Smith, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
“A very useful workshop – very practical and something I will seek to put into practice.”
Peter Rourke, Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
“Bryan is a very personable and sincere trainer who uses an informal and inclusive style. The decision model is a firm basis for further work.”
Persuasive Adviser Program Participant, Department of Social Services, Australian Government
“Bryan designed and implemented an enterprise risk management framework for Electrix, which involved training and risk profiling workshops with our staff throughout Australia. He was very easy to work with and used his wealth of experience to develop a framework specific for our needs and training modules that were well received and understood by our staff. Bryan also kept to the programme, meeting all of our deadlines. We definitely could not have achieved what we did without Bryan’s assistance.”
Joe Warren, General Manager Australia, Electrix Pty Ltd
“Bryan built a Risk Management framework around our existing company strategies and objectives. Quite remarkably, he made the dry subject of Risk Management very interesting for our staff, conducting workshops which made Risk Management mainstream. He delivered on his promises and prompted us to keep to our time-line. Bryan was personable and able to relate to and lead various business unit managers. Most importantly, we’re finding Bryan’s resulting output reports relevant and useful. Overall, I would say RMP is good value!”
Robert Ferris, General Manager, Electrix Ltd
“Bryan was knowledgeable on our business and well prepared, so that content and delivery were specific to our organisation.”
Brendan Ellis, Account Engineer, FM Global
“Content was very good and looking forward to using some of the concepts in my job.”
Damien, FM Global
“Bryan Whitefield facilitated a one-day workshop for FM Global on Becoming a Trusted Adviser for our BDMs, Account Managers and Senior Engineers. His knowledge of FM Global was excellent and he challenged our staff to think outside the box and explore different perspectives of our key messages for our customers. Bryan’s open and honest approach and articulate presentation made the workshop engaging and our participants will use many of their new skills and knowledge as they build their roles at FM.”
Russell Carson, Vice President; Manager Business Development Asia-Pacific Operations, FM Global
“Bryan Whitefield’s Persuasive Advisor Program is my highest ROI course I’ve ever attended. It gave me an excellent framework to improve my influencing skills. Putting your learning into practice is the real test for any program and I implemented Bryan’s framework successfully for one of the key decisions at my organisation within the first month. The outcome was way more valuable than cost of the program. I refer to the framework provided by Bryan, to his “pearls of wisdom” and to his book DECIDE quarterly.”
Ripal Shah, Heritage Bank Australia
“Enjoyed it thoroughly, good humour, didn’t feel pressured to participate.”
Ta’au Savaiinaea, Inland Revenue
“By having the workshop structured around NGA, Bryan had all the participants more engaged. Utilizing current programs in general discussions demonstrated the need to be more proactive. Bryan asked all the hard questions.”
Darrel Lord, National Gallery of Australia
“Bryan clearly has extensive knowledge and experience and this enabled the content of the workshop to be delivered with confidence providing detailed examples to support learning objectives. An excellent training workshop, highly recommended to others.”
Dean Marshall, Head of Facilities Management, National Gallery of Australia
“Bryan provided a really practical framework that’s easy to remember. I’ll use it from now on whenever I’m preparing for an important meeting. His depth of knowledge and experience is amazing.”
Patricia McMillan, Speaker/Author/Advisor, Patricia McMillan & Associates
“Really enjoyed working on practical examples which means we’re more likely to put them into practice in our own organisations. The tone and setting of the day was consistently positive and encouraged interaction and participation.”
Persuasive Adviser Program Participant, NZ Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM)
“Not a typical or theoretical course at all–certainly will recommend to my colleagues.”
Persuasive Adviser Program Participant, Wellington, New Zealand
“I had the pleasure of attending Bryan Whitefield’s Winning Conversation Workshop delivered for Leadership Think Tank recently. Bryan’s style of facilitation was totally engaging and thought provoking. The models shared by Bryan at the workshop has really assisted my preparation for meetings and my confidence has grown as a result. A very valuable, worthwhile workshop. Thank you so much!”
Cath Shaw, Founder, Positive Living Skills
“Very informative that breaks down potentially complicated conversations into easily managed segments to help structure convincing arguments.”
Kent Mortensen, Compliance Risk Manager, Pro-Pac Packaging Limited
“The winning conversations workshop really assisted in helping me prepare for some difficult conversations I had been putting off. I now have a framework I can use to help tackle any conversation comfortably and for me, that is worth its weight in gold.”
Jacqui Nolan-Neylen, Co-founder, Revvies Energy Strips
“Exceeded expectations and will be incorporated and supported.”
Mark Stranglo, NSW Engineering Manager, SAGE Automation
“The content was excellent for our purpose and the facilitator was extremely knowledgeable and engaging.”
Fiona Connell, Central Risk Analyst, GLNG Operations, Santos
“Excellent structure to the course. Has generated new ideas to be developed further.”
Paul Clarkson, Risk Manager, GLNG Operations, Santos
“Clear articulation of the subject. Adapted well to the GLNG/Santos perspectives.”
Rory Rogers, Manager Risk and Audit, Santos
“Really enjoyed and found useful the activities that will be able to deploy going forward.”
Adrian Durrheim, Senior Risk Advisor, Suncorp
“Bryan’s presentation was clearly articulated & delivered. Learnt some interesting concepts given that I came in thinking that I already was a trusted business partner.”
Geoff Sturt, Credit Specialist, Suncorp
“Course presented range of new techniques that we were able to practice, and will now look to implement.”
Paul Watson, Senior Risk Advisor, Suncorp
“I enjoyed collaborating on selling current challenges to stakeholders with other risk professionals.”
Chris Taylor, Risk & Compliance Manager, Suncorp
“Thought provoking, moved me outside of my comfort zone. Great tools/techniques to use.”
Jenny Shin, Corporate Risk Manager, Sydney Water
“Very efficient use of time and powerful messages.”
Ragini Kaul, Senior Risk Specialist, Sydney Water
“Very practical, easy to use concepts to apply at work. Relevant and easy to understand.”
Sunita Singh, Risk and Assurance, Sydney Water
“Bryan’s engaging style made the day fly as we drew, told stories and had a good laugh. It was not just about a fun day, but also one that the team walked away with a new appreciation and set of skills to really tackle those tricky conversations. The entire group now appreciates the importance of understanding what is really driving others by standing in their shoes and the value of storytelling. Back in the office this is now resonating as staff talk about understanding the pressures others may be under before engaging, resulting in greater success. As a leader of a large team it is pleasing that the investment in this program ‘Winning Conversations” is paying off with superior engagement and results”.
Tony Dudley, Head of Business Enablement, Transport Accident Commission, Geelong
“Bryan received good to excellent feedback from our attendees in terms of content delivered, presentation skills and overall satisfaction. They also felt it was an interesting topic, that it was a very useful introduction to risk management and they took away some good practical tips. The Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia is unable to deliver quality training events to our members without the support of experts like Bryan and we greatly appreciate his involvement and are looking forward to engaging him again next year.”
Lisa Lim, Learning & Business Solutions, National Manager – Reporting and Audit Training, The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia
“Bryan’s course provided me with the foundations for building stronger relationships and achieving business results.”
Jason Hall, Risk & Insurance Team Leader, Wollongong City Council
Driving with Dad was the most productive two hours I’ve had. He helped me look at things differently so I realised what I needed to do.
Emily Whitefield
CONSULTING
“Bryan you have delivered an excellent piece of facilitation for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. I think what we’ve achieved as an outcome has been extremely helpful. So we really appreciate your effort and time.”
Roger Beeden, Director of Reef Interventions, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
“Bryan facilitated a workshop for our executive team in order to make Risk Management an integral, business as usual activity, as opposed to a standalone activity which is only considered at certain times. Bryan was able to portray Risk, and Risk Management in a number of different ways, which sparked a number of interesting discussions, and resulted in us identifying a number of initiatives which will assist in the our goal of integrating Risk Management into day to day business activities.”
Robert Ferris, General Manager, Electrix Pty Ltd
“The MNCLHD was looking to accelerate implementation of the Ministry’s Enterprise Risk Management Framework with particular emphasis on moving from a Risk Register only approach to a strategic management of risk and opportunity. The project commenced with development of a Risk Appetite Statement at Board and Executive level. Bryan did an excellent job helping us navigate through the different views offered.
As importantly, Bryan helped us to operationalise our risk appetite inclusive of the development of a Risk and Innovation Community of Practice. Bryan was able to work with staff at all levels of the organisation to engage them and bring clarity to our goals through the provision of expert advice.
MNCLHD is well positioned to reap the rewards from an improved focus on risk-based decision making across the organisation.”
Kathleen Ryan, Executive Director Clinical Governance & Information Services, Mid North Coast Local Health District
“RMP helped us review our thinking on risk management, bringing a more strategic approach to the way we view our risks and opportunities. Bryan’s style and pragmatic approach ensures board, management and staff feel confident with understanding the complexities of supervising and managing risk.”
Deborah Hoffman, General Manager, Research and Planning, Cerebral Palsy Alliance
“My project team was charged with implementing a whole-of-enterprise, whole-of-asset-lifecycle risk control and assurance framework. This framework is being implemented within a large and complex federal government department, and is intended to provide not only a high degree of assurance that capability outcomes will be achieved, but also to allow demonstrations of compliance to WHS and Environmental Protection Legislations.
The team applied a spiral design approach to developing a risk-based, outcome-focused internal regulatory/assurance framework, and contracted Bryan to provide advice regarding setting up the risk-related aspects of the design.
Bryan contributed to three specific aspects; firstly, scoping the ‘state of play’ regarding the maturity and compatibility of existing risk management systems within the enterprise, which informed the implementation plan. Secondly, Bryan researched and provided advice about current best practice with respect to enterprise risk management, which informed the design process. Thirdly, and perhaps most fundamentally, Bryan joined our design effort and provided his considerable knowledge and expertise on the development of a strategic approach to managing risk in our enterprise.
Bryan is a very clear thinker and communicator. He has a wealth of risk experience in the strategic management of enterprise risk. His views on the need to consider an enterprise through three ‘Lines of Defence’ has proved to be an enduring and central component of our system design.”
Matt Brown, Australian Government
“Bryan developed a risk assessment for us in relation to a potential company restructure. He impressed us with his ability to understand the structure of our complex group of companies and of course the risk issues we needed to manage.”
Bob McNab, CFO, ADInstruments
“Bryan is a professional and strong facilitator who relates well to staff at all levels. As a regular facilitator for Austrade, he teases out critical issues to ensure that the objectives from each session are consistently achieved to a high level. Bryan’s mentoring capabilities have enabled us to progress large projects effectively, after only a few short and sharp sessions – clarifying scope, roles, deliverables and efficient strategies for getting the job done.”
David Moore, A/g Group Manager, Business Effectiveness (Austrade Canberra)
“I have worked with Risk Management Partners since 2004, primarily in connection with LAPP, the Local Authority Protection Programme. [LAPP is a charity with $40 million in assets that through its own funds, combined with a reinsurance programme and risk management advice provided by Risk Management Partners, helps protect local authority assets.] Risk Management Partners throughout that period have done an excellent job. Risk Management Partners have:
Completed the risk management work for LAPP with at least ten site visits per year across New Zealand for the last sixteen years;
Carried out and published benchmarking surveys for LAPP’s members;
Played a key role in setting LAPP’s claims acceptance and claims management policies;
Organised and managed a number of New Zealand local authority flood management focus groups;
Assisted LAPP in its work with various central government departments for improving New Zealand’s ability to respond to a major natural disaster.
I thoroughly recommend their services.”
Tim Sole, Chief Executive, Civic Assurance
“Bryan designed and implemented an enterprise risk management framework for Electrix, which involved training and risk profiling workshops with our staff throughout Australia. He was very easy to work with and used his wealth of experience to develop a framework specific for our needs and training modules that were well received and understood by our staff. Bryan also kept to the programme, meeting all of our deadlines. We definitely could not have achieved what we did without Bryan’s assistance.”
Joe Warren, General Manager Australia, Electrix Pty Ltd
“Bryan quickly assessed our needs in terms of a short and sharp high level review of our current risk program in the context of the stage of development of our organisation. His recommendations are practical and will be implemented.”
John Sands, Head of Risk Practice, Risk Management, Employers Mutual
“First Title engaged Risk Management Partners (RMP) to assist in reviewing its Risk Management Framework. This review entailed the important task of facilitation of Risk Management workshops with each division; identification of Risk Champions in each division; the identification and assessment of risk and the development of the risk culture within the organisation. We found RMP’s experience and exposure to various risk environments to be of great assistance in achieving our objectives in our review.”
Chris Tyler, CEO, First Title
“G&S engaged Bryan to facilitate a broad Business Risk session with our Executive Team. Through the addition of Bryan’s extensive Risk Management knowledge and his well tuned facilitation skills our team reviewed and updated our corporate business risk system tools and completed a review of our business risks, current treatment plans and prioritised our residual risk areas. I wouldn’t hesitate to utilise Bryan’s services again or to recommend his consultancy to other organisations.”
Tim Magoffin, General Manager Maintenance & Mining Services, Maintenance & Mining, Mackay, G & S Engineering
“Mr Whitefield has been engaged by the Institute to undertake a number of facilitations and development projects. The continued engagement in itself attests to the quality of his work and his well developed experience in the areas of risk management and business planning. The added advantage has been that as an adjunct he has provided staff with mentoring in the specific areas of expertise. His simplistic approach to mentoring has meant that those officers have developed at a much faster rate than had they been instructed.”
Jeff Hobson, Director Corporate Services, AIATSIS
Bryan Whitefield’s capability assessment tool gave me valuable insight into the enablers we could put in place to help people be successful in their roles, through providing us with data about staff satisfaction aligned with our key areas of success and our risk profile. Our managers appreciated the graphic presentation and the ability to drill into changes over time. The ability to be targeted in specific themes was also valuable to us, along with targeting specific parts of the organisation. Access went smoothly and turnaround times were well within my expectations.
Heather Smith, Chief Operating Officer, Good Beginnings
“Our organisation has worked with Bryan in the last few months, and our experience has been extremely productive. He has articulated best practice processes and policies to our key staff. As a mentor, Bryan has been most helpful in simplifying processes, and has provided us with valuable insight from his experience within the industry. He has provided tips and tools to guide us through our journey. We are now currently working towards developing an Enterprise Risk Management framework, and look forward to continuing our association with Bryan and Risk Management Partners.”
Joseph Yap, Accreditation Manager, GP Synergy Limited
Playgroup Victoria was very pleased to have worked with Bryan on a recent risk consultancy to review our risk management approach. Bryan has a wonderful style which makes risk management accessible for managers who may not always appreciate its importance. Our senior management team were extremely impressed with Bryan’s skill and approach to consulting with us on our risk profile. They particularly appreciated the simplicity of the corporate risk profile and framework Bryan works with. This makes embedding a risk culture mush easier when staff and managers are able to easily embrace an accessible framework. Accessibility does not mean that Bryan’s framework and templates are not thorough and comprehensive. Bryan assisted us to get down to the basics and ensure our systems were identifying and managing risk as core business. It was a delight working with him.
Vivienne Cunningham-Smith, CEO, Playgroup Victoria
“Ronald McDonald House Charities utilised the services of Bryan to develop a comprehensive risk profile for our organisation. The CEO and leadership team were very impressed with Bryan’s professional approach and his ability to facilitate a workshop involving people with a wide variety of risk knowledge and resulting in a risk profile that everyone understood and felt that they had contributed to. Bryan ensured that the end result was a relevant and workable document and risk tool for our organisation.”
Barbara Ryan, Program Manager, Ronald McDonald House Charities
“Bryan Whitefield has completed risk related projects successfully for me from as far back as 1996 and I have valued many short sharp consultations with him. I have always found him to be excellent at understanding the issues and his solutions to be highly practical. His facilitation skills are excellent and equally valuable has been his mentoring of my support staff to assist them with implementation of solutions.”
Gary Clark, Director – Legal & Risk, SMEC Holdings Limited
“I thoroughly recommend Risk Management Partners. Bryan quickly brought us up to speed with the key enterprise risk management principals and guided us through the process. His facilitation skills were great and helped us get to the bottom of our business risks as well as identify practical opportunities to improve our business.”
Glenn Hoen, CFO, Upstream Print Solutions
“Bryan did a fantastic facilitation of our enterprise risk review. Really helped to get the ball rolling in this space for us.”
Adam Blatch, Organisational Risk & Systems Manager, YMCA of Sydney
COACHING
“The added advantage has been that as an adjunct Bryan has provided staff with mentoring in the specific areas of expertise. His simplistic approach to mentoring has meant that those officers have developed at a much faster rate than had they been instructed.”
Jeff Hobson, Director Corporate Services, AIATSIS
“… Bryan’s mentoring capabilities have enabled us to progress large projects effectively, after only a few short and sharp sessions – clarifying scope, roles, deliverables and efficient strategies for getting the job done.”
David Moore, A/g Group Manager Business Effectiveness (Austrade Canberra)
“RMP assisted AWI in revising its risk and fraud management policies by facilitating workshops with a cross section of the business. The process RMP instigated ensured that not only were the plans revised, but through RMP mentoring the team these plans will evolve with the business rather than becoming static documents. The professional and friendly service provided by RMP ensured that this task was completed with the minimum of fuss.”
Tracy Marshall, General Manager Finance & IT, Australian Wool Innovation Limited
“I have thoroughly enjoyed Bryan’s one-on-one coaching program. He has the knack for making Risk Management simple and sensible. He has a great balance between ensuring effective risk management and making this easy for the non-risk personnel to understand, grasp and run with.”
Aaron Mitchell, Administrative Services Manager, Risk Manager, CBM Australia
“RMP helped us review our thinking on risk management. bringing a more strategic approach to the way we view our risks and opportunities. Bryan’s style and pragmatic approach ensures board, management and staff feel confident with understanding the complexities of supervising and managing risk.”
Deborah Hoffman, General Manager, Research and Planning, Cerebral Palsy Alliance
“Our organisation has worked with Bryan in the last few months, and our experience has been extremely productive. He has articulated best practice processes and policies to our key staff. As a mentor, Bryan has been most helpful in simplifying processes, and has provided us with valuable insight from his experience within the industry. He has provided tips and tools to guide us through our journey. We are now currently working towards developing an Enterprise Risk Management framework, and look forward to continuing our association with Bryan and Risk Management Partners.”
Joseph Yap, Accreditation Manager, GP Synergy Limited
BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING (BCP)
“Bryan worked with us to develop a realistic desktop exercise scenario for DFAT’s head office and then facilitated the exercise scenario for over 50 management and staff. He showed great skill keeping such a large group engaged and moving through the exercise efficiently while drawing out key points along the way.”
Adam Robertson, Director, Corporate Planning Section, Executive, Planning and Evaluation Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
“We have found the initial consultation with RMP to have been of benefit in identifying gaps within our Company BCP. The walk-through exercise of our BCP has allowed us to identify other options in terms of disaster recovery planning and continuation of our critical operations.”
Gary Furlong, National Quality Systems Manager, Symbion Pharmacy Service Pty Ltd
“I would not hesitate to rely on Bryan’s services in relation to Business Continuity Planning. He is undoubtedly very knowledgeable, focussed and detail oriented while at the same time able to customise and coach a range of business teams through the eclectic array of scenarios and issues to be taken into account. Bryan’s professional approach stands him in good stead, particularly his ability to engage with a broad range of disciplines and teams across a complex business.”
Veronica Keating, Director, Quality & Risk Management, Navitas Professional and English Programs
“Bryan quickly understood how our business operates and the challenges it faces and guided us to develop and test a thorough Business Continuity Plan for Whiteley. His manner and approach to business meant he was easy to work with and we soon learned the value of his experience in helping us understand the implications of potential disruptions to our business.”
Darran Leyden, General Manager, Whiteley Corporation
SPEAKING
“Bryan, you are a truly polished speaker and we loved your interaction with our audience. Thank you for a fantastic and extremely engaging online presentation. We are receiving great feedback!”
Alana Cuthbert, Business Manager, NZ Institute of Quantity Surveyors
“Very useful in terms of hearing different industry experiences on Project Risk.”
Darren Chang, Director, Anitime Consulting
“It was good, with plenty of interactive segments. I have picked up a few tools to use in the future.”
Rod Berwick, Construction Superintendent, Arrow Energy
“I did enjoy your presentation at the EA conference; in particular I like your practical, no-nonsense approach to resolving issues.”
Anne Mackenzie, Managing Consultant, ELT Works
“Good practical concepts.”
Peter Maggiora, Project Manager, Genband
“Bryan was a wonderful presenter. He was clear with his delivery and the content of the presentation was very informational. I also liked the way he made the presentation interactive by getting us to discuss certain question amongst the delegates.”
How to Build Lead Performance Indicators, ICAA Business Forum, Brisbane 2014 Attendee
“Bryan received good to excellent feedback from our attendees in terms of content delivered, presentation skills and overall satisfaction. They also felt it was an interesting topic, that it was a very useful introduction to risk management and they took away some good practical tips. The Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia is unable to deliver quality training events to our members without the support of experts like Bryan and we greatly appreciate his involvement and are looking forward to engaging him again next year.”
Lisa Lim, Learning & Business Solutions, National Manager – Reporting and Audit Training, The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP: DECISION MAKING
“Bryan is Australia’s leading thinker on decision making. Unlike just about everyone in business he actually understands risk, and how to evaluate and manage it. As well as a depth of expertise and experience, Bryan is also generous, funny and is a man of deep integrity. If you get the chance to work with Bryan grab it with both hands.”
Peter Cook, Chief Executive Officer and Dean, Thought Leaders Business School
“Bryan helped us explore some of our team decision making processes. His expertise and collaborative approach ensured we have a strong foundation for developing our strategies and plans to develop our decision support systems. Personally, I found it a really interesting project to work on, as did the teams involved who are already putting into practice the valuable insights they gained.”
Dr. Damian Weekers, Assistant Director – Science for Management, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
“Bryan applied his decision making framework while facilitating our Hands Across the Water Board 3-day Strategic Planning session. We had some big decisions to make, to decide the future of our charity, and it was remarkable how well he held the room through the three days. He steered the 6 of us to make decisions which will affect Hands, I am sure very positively, for years to come.”
Peter Baines, OAM, Chair and Founder, Hands Across the Water
“Usually I’m quite decisive. However, I’d been wrestling with a major business decision for some time and it was causing me a great deal of frustration. When I sought Bryan’s help I wasn’t sure what to expect, but his Think it Through Decision Making Program was just what I needed. The different perspectives he guided me through provided several “aha” moments and clarified the way forward. The certainty with which I was able to make the decision has stayed with me since and I am grateful for his help. I would challenge anyone to remain indecisive after going through this process.”
Matt Lumsdaine, Mentor, Trainer, Speaker and Facilitator
RISK MATURITY REVIEW
“Bryan completed a risk maturity review for the Commission. Bryan completed what I would describe as a pragmatic review using a clearly structured process aligned to the ISO 31000 risk management standard and provided highly practical advice to guide the further development of our program.”
Sue Dawson, Commissioner, Health Care Complaints Commission NSW