PEOPLE AND RISK
CULTURE - RISK - LEADERSHIP
Helping organisations tackle risk through a focus on people and culture
Culture
Build cultural maturity
Risk
Embrace risk
Leadership
Influence and engage
Learn More
What I Do
How I Approach Risk & Safety
About Me
Overview of the services and support I provide
Videos and articles that help you understand how I approach my work
A bit of background to understand how I got here
What I Do
Culture Maturity Programs
People and Risk can support organisations through a comprehensive safety and risk culture maturity process.
This work is based around the Embracing Risk Framework. This framework provides a more meaningful way for people and organisations to interact with risk. It acts as a scaffold that helps organisations tackle safety through a specific focus on people.
Building cultural maturity is enacted through leaders, using specific culture influencing strategies, supported by new and modified artefacts, systems and tools, structured around realigned strategic planning.
Leadership Workshops, Training & Keynotes
People and Risk can delivery customised workshops, training programs and keynotes on the following topics:​
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Safety and risk leadership.
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​Leading safety and risk for managers and leaders.
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Cultural literacy for leaders.
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The psychology of risk.
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High reliability organising (HROing).
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The culture paradox.
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Wicked problems.
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Fragility and the risk paradox.
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Heuristics, biases and priming.
Typically these programs are delivered as part of a broader culture program, but can of course be delivered as a one-off or specifically targeted program.
Other Support & Consulting
People and Risk can also provide support through:
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Leadership coaching.
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Conference and event facilitation and MCing.
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Culture reviews and audits.
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Support with systems refining & decluttering.
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Review of inductions and other training programs.
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Support for development of in-house training programs and systems.
How I Approach Risk & Safety
Videos
Articles
Wicked Problems in Safety and Risk
Safety, Risk and Power
The Culture Paradox
Embracing Risk
Safety is About...
Safety and Compliance
Social Psychology and HROing
Fragility and the Risk Paradox
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
About Me
People and Risk is me, Dave Whitefield, and I help organisations tackle risk (mostly in the safety area, because that's where my experience has been) through a focus on people.
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I'm also a parent to a couple of young adults navigating their way in the arts industry, a husband to a dedicated and caring education psychologist, an extrovert, a pretty bad procrastinator, and a scratcher and walker to Tilly (the dog).
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I've been in the safety and risk industry for just on 30 years in a variety of roles. This has mostly been in consulting and facilitation/training roles, typically working for myself. I have also had a few runs as a safety and risk manager, and I have also been the Director and owner (along with 3 other amazing business partners) of a medium sized national training business that we grew from 5 people to 50 people over about 7 years.
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I've completed a Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Work and Health), a Graduate Diploma of Occupational Health and Safety, and a Graduate Diploma of Psychology of Risk.
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After all of that I'm still trying to work out what I want to do when I grow up.
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People and Risk kicked off at the beginning of 2014, and over the last 10 years I've always had a strong focus on people and culture. I have typically found myself working with clients that are looking to do something a little differently, but are not sure exactly what that is, which means we end up working a lot of it out as we go.
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The work I do is developed and delivered primarily from a social psychological approach or paradigm, and ​over the last few years I have been developing and refining a broad framework that better captures and describes this work. I call this The Embracing Risk Framework.
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I do think that many of the things we do in orthodox or traditional safety can end up increasing risk, and I also know that most of the time, that's not the intended outcome. The Embracing Risk Framework is my attempt at helping organisations find the right balance (trade-offs) when tackling safety, through putting the focus on risk, and how risk is managed.