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Meghan: [00:00:14] Hello and welcome to IBTV. My name is Meghan Bille, joined here today by David Turner, managing director of RiskNZ. David is here today to talk about the ever changing risk management sector in New Zealand and about Risk NZ's annual conference. So since the last time you spoke to IBTV, can you tell us what has changed in the risk management sector?

David: [00:00:37] I think the biggest change would be even more of a focus on getting risk management right, more of a focus on the fundamentals being communication, wellbeing, looking after our staff to get through these really uncertain times that we're all in and especially now, a bigger focus on strategy. Before it was a little bit about long term planning. Now it's much shorter plans, say, from a week to 2 to 3 weeks to even three months max. And with that takes a bit of strategy of how are we going to get there, what are we going to do with a really strong risk focus? But also what are the contingency plans in this uncertain times and what do we need to do to make sure we're looking ahead? We're aware and we've kind of updated really almost every day. And I think that's been the biggest change is probably people being a lot more nimble even from the first lockdown right to now and a lot more flexible. So that's what we're seeing.

Meghan: [00:01:30] And what has surfaced as a key area of risk attention over the past six months. 

David: [00:01:35] Look, great question. And coming on from the last question you just gave me, a big transition from that question would be straight into BCP. So business continuity planning is becoming really popular again. It lost its momentum, I think, for a few years there as a kind of a document that sat on a shelf. People knew was there, but now, again, saying uncertain times, they've come out. But there's a new focus on BCP where we're looking at really getting into the weeds of that risk and really looking at if we have, say, a team of people, what are their absolute priorities, what are they working on? And then prioritizing that right down to saying if someone is away or someone's sick, what can we actually do? What are the core things that we can still deliver and bringing it right down to there? So we know exactly from best case to worst case what the capabilities are, what the capacity is, and keep that kind of organization going. So look, that's a lot of resilience going into those BCP teams and on that BCP planning with that strong risk focus. There's a lot more updating. There's a lot more meetings saying how are we going, how are we tracking and making sure that we have measures in place? And these are the BCP things that we always wanted, right? These are the BCP things that really make a lot of sense. They really help organizations and people are learning about them quite quickly and they're really effective. So I think we're getting there with that. And look, with any crisis and we don't want a crisis, but with COVID, there has been positives of really getting that risk management right. For example, the strategy, the BCP, all that kind of thing and really getting the focus where it should be. So that's probably the biggest thing that's coming out of it. Yeah. 

Meghan: [00:03:14] And are you guys having your annual RiskNZ's conference this year? 

David: [00:03:19] Yes, we are. So we were originally going to have it this month, but now we're going to have it in August. And so we're going to have it on the ninth and 10th of August this year and just transition again from the questions you just asked me. What we've done is really a focus on what's important, what's on people's minds, what do they need to know basically now at the conference and going forward. And so we did a big survey and that was just really asking questions, getting in touch with our members and sponsors and really anyone saying, what's important to you, what have you learned? And some of the main key subjects that have come out of there that will be part of the conference. So items like developing the risk professions. So what does it look like going forward? What do we need and kind of what have we learned, which is a really key one, developing that risk culture, going back to the BCP example, getting that culture right, getting people to understand risk at all different levels and start using it. And it's really not that hard, but it's how do we implement it? Looking at the resilient organization, what do we do in disruptions? How do we get through it? How can we bounce back and keep going just like the BCP example again? So we're really hitting the subjects that are really important to people. And I think the subjects that keep industries going, the government going and keep us through going through this crisis. Then we've got panel discussions. So we've got some experts really in risk business strategy right across the table, really a business with the panel discussions, getting a subject and really pulling the pieces, talking about it. 

David: [00:04:48] And that really helps. I think it's really valuable in this kind of conference situations where people can start learning from that real experience, how to do things and take it away really quickly. Effective governance. We're looking at governance because that's really what to me anyway, it's kind of setting the tone and risk works with governance, risk and work outside of governance. But really governance will determine how much time and effort is put into a risk team or a risk strategy or whatever it might be or a project, how much resources are given to that and really making sure that that's going in the right direction, learning how we can do governance a lot better and make it more effective. We're looking at project management and one of our workshop days, it's a second day. So really diving into project management, really everything's a project, right? Or a program. So we're saying, how can we do it better? How can we get that failure rate right down? And it's really again looking at that magic thing called risk management, but from all different angles and not just having risk management, it's a a template or a risk register in a report. It's really making it relevant to what we need today and that's what we've learnt over the past couple of years. And we're also looking at psychology and behavioral science. I mean that really hasn't been done in a lot of risk conferences before and that's why we really want this conference or we're calling a summit to be something that New Zealand or certainly Australasia hasn't seen before. When we're doing a risk conference, looking at those subjects which are really relevant and really looking at how we can take ourselves forward. So really it's about the tolerance to risk. What does that mean? It's resilience and also we're looking at supply chain risk and that's really important. That's something else with COVID. And look at BCP says okay, we might be alright and we're planning our say BCP or organisational risk to get through it. But let's look at our supply chains and do they need help? Do they have risks that might affect us? How are they tracking and kind of looking at everyone in that kind of one big team of actually working together and not having that separation? And lastly, but we've got more, more subjects, but just for now, cyber and digital risk, that's a workshop. So we're looking at how that ties into everything. I've just really talked about how it's important and really is the backbone of risk management and organisations to really get it right. So yeah, it's going to be exciting, looking forward to it. And we're, we're, we're doing our risk management measures that we will have attendance on on those days. Look at the worst case we can always go to online and that has a big following as well. And look, it can be convenient both ways for everybody if they're logging on the comfort of their home or office. But I'm sure we'll have that in-person summit which which we're planning for. 

Meghan: [00:07:27] And how is risk NZ constantly adapting to the ever changing times we find ourselves in?

David: [00:07:33] Oh look, with everything I've covered and that's another great question. With everything I've covered so far, it's keeping relevant. It's speaking to members, it's doing research, it's doing a lot behind the scenes to say, Are we actually providing enough networking? For example, we've raised counsellors for them throughout New Zealand, so I do a lot of driving around last year and kind of meeting different councils. We have about 23 representatives from those councils and all risk managers or affiliated with risk in some way. And we meet once every quarter, we talk about a subject, we break it down and then we network. And so people say, okay, if that person is doing this, maybe I can get some ideas from them, etc., etc.. We're also now starting to raise a business risk forum. Are we doing the same thing through private organisations? A couple of government, but really looking at that business focus of what are our risk, how can we network, how can we get that better? And that starts breaking down the silos. And I think once we start breaking down the silos throughout New Zealand, get people together, get them thinking, get them talking. That's a really powerful thing. And so that's one way that we're making sure that we keep relevant and also we're making sure that we ask people to give us feedback so you can keep improving. So we're doing a very best behind the scenes.

Meghan: [00:08:46] And lastly, David, where from here, what's next for the rest of management industry? 

David: [00:08:51] What's next for New Zealand? I think just keep adapting. Just making sure we stay ahead of the ball, if you like, as much as possible. And what I mean by that is, look, we are in certain times it might get even more uncertain. So we need to make sure that we're keeping nimble, that we are getting the right information, we are doing the best for our members as far as possible and just making sure that we don't ever say we've done enough or, you know, we've done all we can. We need to keep improving and that's what's next for New Zealand. That's what we've done over the past two years. The board has been fantastic with some really good support. We've got some new board members on now which bring their expertise, their networks, and that even helps us reach our objectives much easier. So yeah, that's all we're hitting. It looks very positive. We've made some really good partnerships with companies like Protecht, Camms, Aon, SAI360, we've made partnerships with RMIA in Australia, who looks after risk management in their Australasian kind of area with Simon Levy. And that's been really important too. So we're doing some webinars at the same time. So look, there's a lot going on, there's a lot planned and it's just really comes down to making sure that we're getting as much as possible.