Defence Business November 2023

November 2023 Defence Business DILP 11
“But I don’t think anyone’s leadership journey is ever
done. The foundational leadership modules were
perhaps less relevant to me, though the opportunity to
practice them in a different context were nice.
“It certainly did reinforce or solidify some of my prior
experiences and prior skillsets.
“I think a lot of participants really benefitted from some
experience around things like dealing with workplace
conflict and crisis management, ethics in management,
some of those aspects.”
The real pay-off for Whitby was a much greater
appreciation of the needs of businesses, big and small,
that serve Defence and the ability to make invaluable
connections that will last a lifetime.
“They talk about how many major business deals are
not made based on dollars and cents, they’re based on
mutual trust.
“All of the relationships built during that course were
not about business to business relationships they were
people identifying common ground, seeing how peers
operated, gaining appreciation and respect.
“I think those relationships and the ability to be able
to work together across industry will be significantly
enhanced by that.
“And I also have absolutely no doubt whatsoever,
that all the participants who came from a non-military
background, and had not participated in other
formalised leadership training through other career
continuums saw significant benefits out of some of
the structured leadership training, some of the things
like having conversations with conflict or dealing
with crisis.”
Whitby’s passion for his vocation is infectious
and inspiring.
He wants to make a difference.
“I care about defence and what it does to protect the
national security and national interests of our country,”
he said.
“One thing that it gave me the opportunity to do
was to leverage my military experiences and my
appreciation of business operation and acumen to
be able to act as a bit of a link between many of the
industry participants.
“In my personal opinion, defence industry doesn’t
work brilliantly together, it works together when it has
to, not when it’s in the best interests of Defence.
“So I wanted to identify where there are pockets of
excellence potentially untapped or where there are
challenges in pathways for some of those industry
participants to be able to support Defence so that we
can get the very best and very safest capability.”
Collaboration
His definition of leadership extends well beyond what
any dictionary offers.
People. Your greatest asset,
sometimes your greatest risk.
Recent events highlight the damage malicious and unintentional insiders can
inflict on reputations, finances, capabilities, and ultimately national security.
Delivering Australian Defence capability requires capable, skilled, reliable,
and trusted people. Government and Industry must rely on collaborative,
assured supply chains and trusted partners at home and abroad. Success relies
on workforce security management composed of nuanced candidate selection,
critical worker protection, insider threat detection and tailored protective
TRUSTED
WORKFORCE.
FROM INSIDER
OUT.
measures to unlock the potential of your workforce.
Providence brings a best-in-class approach to Enterprise Protective Security
and excellence in organisational transformation to deliver security governance
and culture that enables early insider threat mitigation with the benefit of
creating diverse and inclusive workplaces.
The result? Retention of scarce human capital and access to reliable new talent.
UNLOCK
YOUR
ENTIRE
WORKFORCE
Strategy.
Transformation.
Delivery.
Enterprise Protective Security.
providenceconsulting.com.au