Reflections of an RMIA Risk Award Winner - 2 of 4, Martene Archer

Ahead of the 2nd webinar in the RMIA Risk Award Winner series, we’ll be sharing the reflections of Martene Archer, RMIA’s Public Sector Risk Leader of the Year.

Can you tell us about the project or initiative that earned you this recognition?
I was asked to lead Lake Macquarie City Council’s risk journey as part of the organisation’s strategy to deliver a more empowered experience for its 1100+ workforce by embedding risk in decision-making and maturing risk management practices.

What inspired you to pursue this particular risk management approach or strategy?
The approach was inspired by Council’s organisation roadmap where our focus continues to be on delivering outcomes for our city. This is achieved through day-to-day risk-aware decision-making, at all levels – across all activities. 
Council works in an environment where we have a privileged role serving the community, and where risk-informed decision-making touches the lives of everyone in our city.

What were the biggest challenges you faced while working on this project, and how did you overcome them?
The project required a fundamental shift in the organisation’s engagement with risk, balancing risk and opportunity while fostering resilience and agility, and leveraging risks as a strategic enabler.
Local government provides a range of services and infrastructure to support the needs of the community. The scale, variety and complexity of risks that we have to deal with can make risk management in the local government environment challenging.
While this challenge is faced by every council, the approach to manage both risk and opportunity with integrity, while maximising engagement and ensuring a clear view of optimal risk-taking, has been fundamental to our approach.

How did your team contribute to the success of this project? Were there any key collaborations or partnerships that played a significant role?
The team designed an inclusive and tailored approach to risk appetite development, which enabled the necessary buy-in across the organisation.
The CEO and Executive have been our biggest advocates, setting the tone, reinforcing the program’s importance, providing a focus on the pursuit of opportunities, and making risk considerations a priority.
The partnership with senior leaders from across the organisation is also fundamental to our success. We involved senior leaders early on in the process and empowered them to contribute to and design the format that could be understood by the organisation as a whole. 
We also established a new senior leader risk think tank to complement our existing governance structures involving the elected Council, the Executive, and Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee in their oversight of the effectiveness of our program.

Can you share any specific risk management techniques or methodologies that were particularly effective in this case?
The project leveraged a new risk appetite framework and risk engagement model to garner buy-in and commitment, foster high levels of engagement, collective awareness of desired risk-taking, innovation in the pursuit of objectives, and first-line decision agility.
Risk appetite statements were cascaded to teams at all levels through an inclusive change model that engaged teams in discussion on values-based risk preferences and team-based behaviours, that align with our values and desired risk-taking.
New structured risk workshops and scenarios involving more than 300 staff, turned risk into a more accessible discussion on “what must go right” and connected teams, increased understanding of shared organisation risk, optimal risk-taking, and integrated risk discussions with ways of working.
New and uplifted risk frameworks and procedures were implemented, and foundation risk training was rolled out for more than 1000 staff, equipping individuals with clear roles and responsibilities, common levels of risk awareness, and improving our risk management practices in a consistent manner.
Surveys of risk maturity and risk culture supported the review of strengths, discussion on changes that would be most critical and response with practical and focused actions.

Can you share any strategies or practices that you think are often overlooked but are crucial for effective risk management?
It probably goes without saying, but relationships and building trust are the foundation of everything.