72: A Risk Management Solution that passes the Water Cooler Test – Rachel Gillott

Risk management in any industry is something to be taken seriously. Often there is a mandatory course or eLearning program on the topic that is rolled out organisation-wide, consuming a large chunk of workforce time.  While things are shifting with the way we design such programs, there is still a tendency for them to be information-heavy, unmemorable, and completed as a one-off event.

What would it look like if you dared to try something different?  Rachel Gillott, the Senior Learning and Development Business Partner at Shine Lawyers, did just that.  The approach taken by Rachel and her team was both robust and creative, with a high level of stakeholder engagement in creating a holistic solution.  It was fully deserving of a gold LearnX design award and highly commended in the Australian Institute of Training and Development Excellence Awards.

When asked to develop a learning solution over three years ago, Rachel formed a working group with management representation and undertook an organisational needs analysis.  She also engaged their Professional Indemnity insurer in a partnership that has continued with the L&D team ever since.  This is an excellent example of working effectively with internal and external partners and looking beyond knowledge and skills to make it easier for people to adopt desired behaviours.

The learning solution is multi-faceted to cater for differing levels of experience with risk management across their workforce.  It has continued to evolve and now includes periodic campaigns conducted at times of heightened pressure, and sessions provided by the insurer drawing upon their broader visibility of industry trends and incidents.  It also includes a super-hero comic strip aesthetic eLearning program where participants get to pick their own avatar and help save the Shine world.  Rachel talks about how she gained agreement to take a fun approach to a serious topic – with great impact.

The result is a learning solution that has people talking about the subject at the water cooler and taking action more consciously to manage risk.

Episode Highlights

• The nature of risk in litigation in the legal industry.  The need to manage risk to look after both customers and the organisation.
• Tackling the “it won’t happen to me” mentality to avoid simple mistakes.
• Forming a working group to undertake an organisational needs analysis rather than a training needs analysis.  Looking holistically at risk across the industry and the role of processes and systems.
• Partnering with the organisation’s Professional Indemnity insurer to bring the outside in and support the solution on an ongoing basis.
• Documenting processes and systems, and creating fact sheets for performance support.
• Running campaigns at key risk times. Using a range of channels to nudge practical behaviours to minimise risk.
• Incorporating risk management in the face-to-face induction program with a scenario-based approach.
• Subsequently redesigning the program as eLearning for use company-wide.  Using a comic-strip aesthetic where participants choose their superhero avatar to go on a mission to save the Shine world.  Achieving the right balance of levity, fun and keeping it real around a serious topic for participant engagement and remembering.  How Rachel got buy-in from the senior leadership team for the approach.