FMG is Australia's third largest iron ore producer and one of the largest companies in the country. We have worked with FMG since inception in 2008 and continue to support the organisation as its risk management program evolves to support a rapidly expanding and changing organisation.
We have worked with four FMG risk managers during this time in project, operational, strategic and sustainability risk. We also conducted a dive deep into operational and corporate business continuity exposures and continuity planning. We have had to overcome scepticism from within FMG on the value of risk management, given two previous failed attempts at setting up a risk program with big four consultants. However, we demonstrated our knowledge of projects and mining organisations and how we can deliver a practical program that supported rapid expansion.
FMG's major success has been underpinned by its willingness to embrace rapid change and take risks that competitors would not. The business has an aversion to bureaucracy which was a challenge for the risk management program - to be seen as an aid to action rather than something that inhibited the organisation.
As FMG was a new organisation, MYR progressively worked to support the fast-track expansion of operations, a myriad of greenfields and sustaining capital projects as well as the development of corporate functions. The focus was then on business resilience in a lean business with little redundancy in its operations. We are now supporting strategic and overseas expansion studies as the business seeks new opportunities.
The learnings we bring from this experience include:
- How to adapt risk management programs to support major changes in a business
- How to be lean and agile to use risk management for support of decision making and risk-taking in a rapidly changing environment
- How controls need to be effective yet sensitive, to support empowerment
- How to ensure the integrity of the risk process while taking minimal management and team