Forum Proceedings

More than 120 presenters, representing a broad range of sectors and from locations as diverse as the US, Australia and New Zealand, featured at the two-day forum. The event also included four break-out workshops for practitioners, as well as a post-forum dedicated Lessons Analysis Workshop.

Keynote speakers from sectors such as defence, emergency services, energy, human services and local government, shared their perspectives and insights on building effective lessons management, knowledge management, research utilisation, continuous improvement and innovation capability. Key themes explored on both days were the role and impact of learning and culture.

A highlight of day two was a live cross to the forum by Ashley Zohn and Andrew Jahier of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) who outlined their national approach to continuous improvement in emergency services.

Presenters from across jurisdictions shared case studies on how they learned lessons from recent major hazards and provided insights on some of the people and process capabilities developed by their organisations to help address gaps or maximise opportunities identified in the lessons.

Day 1 - Tuesday 14 November 2017

Topic Presenter An Overview of Lessons Management Ian Fry, Knoco Ltd. The Emotional Context of Bushfire: Learning from Black Saturday Graham Dwyer, University of Melbourne Disaster Recovery: Are We Doomed to Keep Learning the Same Lessons Over and Over? Kate Brady, Australian Red Cross Bringing Other Stakeholders on the Lessons Journey Andrew McCullough, NSW State Emergency Service Cyclone Debbie: Appreciative Inquiry Commissioner Katarina Carroll, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services The Preparedness Puzzle: Capability, Lessons, Exercises and Assurances Tracy Smith, WA Office of Emergency Management Wheels of Learning in the Human Services Sector Catherine Gearing, NSW Office of Emergency Management Impeller – Innovation in the Victorian Metropolitan Fire Board Miki Wilson and Steph Attenborough, Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board A Case Study in Growing Lessons Management Capability within the Emergency Services Sector and Beyond Heather Stuart, NSW State Emergency Service and Mark Thomason, SA Country Fire Service weLearn – Developing a Learning Culture Lisa Marie Jackson, Emergency Management Victoria Learning Lessons about Teamwork Chris Bearman, Central Queensland University Building Best Practice: Enhancing Utilisation, Demonstrating Return on Investment and Building Collaboration into Research Holly Foster, Emergency Management Victoria; John Gilbert, Country Fire Authority, Vic; Geoff Kaandorp, Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board

Day 2 - Wednesday 15 November 2017

Topic Presenter Continuous Improvement in Emergency Management in the United States Ashley Zohn and Andrew How Organisations Can – and Do – Learn Christine Owen, University of Tasmania Whose Reviews Do Youse Use? Lawson Cole and Martijn Gough, AITHER Lessons Identified Across the Entire Disaster Management System Iain Mackenzie, Inspector General for Emergency Management Think – Learn – Adapt Kristy Hill, New Zealand Defence Force A Lesson Management System to Support Emergency Management Strategic Decision Making Jim Henry, NSW Office of Emergency Management EMV Learning and Improvement Commissioner Craig Lapsley, Emergency Management Victoria The Victorian Resilience Index: The Journey from Research to Innovation to Practice Holly Foster and Sam Redlich, Emergency Management Victoria The Value of Case Studies Noreen Krusel, Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience Changing the Future of Local Governments John Hennessy, Municipal Association of Victoria Knowledge Management in Disaster Resilience Jacqui Douglas, Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience

Workshops Lessons Identified to Lessons Learned – How to Create Change Lisa Marie Jackson, Emergency Management Victoria Observations, Insights, Lessons (OIL) Model Mark (Bert) Cuthbert, Attorney-General’s Department

Lessons Analysis Workshop Outcomes

Following the Lessons Management Forum, the one-day Lessons Analysis Workshop was held on 16 November, 2017 with two objectives:

1. identify lessons across sectors and jurisdictions and operations; and
2. provide an opportunity for experienced lessons practitioners to collaborate and new lessons practitioners to learn.

Lessons Management processes were used to theme and analyse observations to produce insights.