Through a series of 1:1 interviews with each member of the board and a programme of group sessions with managers and staff in risk-critical roles, we created the basis for building a new approach to risk management.

This building process was undertaken jointly with an in-house project team and involved the development of a robust framework for assessing risk, for tracking shifts in the severity of risk (risk is a dynamic phenomenon and not one which can be understood or managed through a static set of traditional risk matrices) and for allocating clear ownership of each risk to designated directors, managers and specialists.

A key outcome of this work has been a strategic framework to ensure clear risk visibility at management committee and board level, thus strengthening governance as well as the day-to-day management of critical risks.

The new framework is supported by a number of risk management tools such as bow-tie analysis, layers of protection analysis and risk driver identification. We are currently engaged with managers across the business to develop their skills in risk recognition, risk management and the strengthening of resilience across a range of functions from flight operations to finance, IT, marketing and HR.