Planning for the 'unthinkable'

27 November 2007

Over 100 programme and project managers gathered in central London last week to hear leading figures from the private and public sector debate how they de-risk their major programmes and plan for the ‘unthinkable’.

Programme and project management (PPM) leaders from Transport for London, the Ministry of Defence, Orange and the NHS joined PPM specialists Moorhouse Consulting at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Whitehall to discuss the different ways they manage internal and external risks to their programmes in today’s uncertain world of political, economic and environmental change.

Paul Mansell from Moorhouse Consulting, who chaired the day and gave a keynote speech, said it fascinating to get an insight into how different organisations manage risk. Paul said: “Our clients talked of the potential political, regulatory and personnel risks to their programmes, and how they plan for events that could occur tomorrow or ten, twenty, even seventy years down the line.

“They also presented real life case studies on how they build risk management into the corporate strategy, how they optimise their team’s skills, infrastructure and facilities to mitigate risk, and the importance of encouraging the right behaviours to drive successful change.”

Managing director Dom Moorhouse said it had been a privilege to hear representatives from the UK’s major change programmes talk so candidly about how they manage risk. Dom said: “Our clients were frank about the difficulties of managing risk and open about the pros and cons of the approaches they use.  There was some real cross-fertilization of ideas around how to do it successfully across sectors, which was great to see, after all, the aim of these events is that we all learn from each other.”

You can access our thought leadership article on Risk Management by clicking here.

If you would like to talk to us call on the number below. Alternatively, click on the consultants email address, provide us with your details and we will call you back. We look forward to speaking to you. Contact: Email: Tel: Esther Harris estherharris@moorhouseconsulting.com +44 (0) 1225 446 313