Karen Maher, Founder and WHS Culture Consultant, Smartculture (Australia)
Karen Maher is a leading Australian WHS Culture consultant and keynote speaker. She partners with and presents to a diverse range of industries and clients across the globe, including the NRL, emergency services, retail, tech companies, health, manufacturing, legal and accounting firms, government agencies, private schools, construction, and mining.
Karen’s experience spans over 19 years. She began as an employment and safety lawyer in Australia and the UK. In 2010 she left the law to start her own consultancy, SmartCulture. She has worked on over 300 cases from all parts of the process including legal, investigations, advisory and process improvement. This includes working with many organisations during times of crisis and following workplace fatalities.
Karen is passionate about building great workplace cultures and preventing psychosocial hazards such as bullying and sexual harassment. She focuses on the fundamentals of great culture and leadership to make this happen.
Presentation: Workplace bystanders: Putting a stop to poor behaviours for good
Natalee Johnston, safety specialist and retired Royal Australian Navy helicopter pilot (Australia)
Natalee Johnston grew up in regional Western Australia and after a decision to apply to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as a pilot, her future was full of firsts. As the first female pilot in the RAN, Natalee gained extensive and unique experiences as a facilitator, leader and pilot. In the 24 years of military service, Natalee fulfilled roles as a qualified helicopter instructor, operations manager, leader and safety professional. In these roles, she gained knowledge and practical skills in understanding human behaviours, why we make errors, what influences our decisions, and the impact of organisational culture. She has over 15 years of experience in instructing and facilitating helicopter training, risk management, investigation techniques, human factors, non-technical skills and culture.
Natalee holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, a Post Graduate certificate in Accident Investigation, and a Masters in Business, among a number of other academic qualifications.
Natalee shares her experience and knowledge in developing and understanding the human interactions that influence our behaviours, mental health and effective decision making, and how organisational culture impacts it all. She is passionate about organisational safety culture, and this passion is clearly evident in her captivating key notes, engaging and challenging the audience to apply what she has learn to themselves. She believes education in safety and decision making plays an integral part in achieving a positive safety culture, resulting in an increase in a business’s safety record as employee mental health and satisfaction is enhanced.
Presentation: Understanding why: The human factor
Natalee will share with you stories and experiences of both when safety works and when it doesn’t, to highlight the importance and benefits of understanding the WHY. Not only why accidents happen, but why we behave and make the decision the way we do. She shares the impact of organisational and safety culture on the workplace and our daily lives, and the importance of understanding what influences and limits our performance, both physically and mentally. She will share her knowledge and experience of the lessons learnt during her time as a military helicopter pilot and also a few lessons from home.
Dr Polly McGee, Author/Consultant, Polly McGee
‘In the past, jobs were about muscles, now they’re about brains, but in future they’ll be about the heart.” Minouche Shafik, Director, London School of Economics
Dr Polly McGee (they/them) is an author, trauma-trained leadership consultant and psychotherapist. They spend their time in organisations building trauma-informed leadership capacity and psychologically safe cultures, speaking and leading workshops, and working with individuals with complex trauma.
Polly founded for profit-for-purpose coffee brand Compassionate Grounds to raise funding for direct intervention regional trauma therapy. They believe with their whole Self in the power of curiosity, courage and compassion to change lives. Polly has a PhD in Gender Studies, and a Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Their person-centred trauma podcast Polly’s Vague Theories can be found where all good pods are streamed.
Presentation: Trauma-informed leadership: Leading your people and teams safe and well
Research has continually shown psychologically safe workplaces are more productive, innovative, curious, fun and foster belonging and self-expression. This in turn leads to higher retention, less absent and presenteeism and less incidents. This keynote dynamically covers the anatomy of a psychologically safe workplace and how to foster a culture of safety to create workplaces where all people can flourish – bottom up and top down.
Scott Roth, head coach of the Tasmania JackJumpers
Scott hails from Cleveland in the United States and was an assistant coach for a number of NBA teams including the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons. He was also head coach of the Dominican Republic, NBA G-League team, the Iowa Wolves, and assistant coach of the Chinese and Turkish national teams.
Before coaching, Scott played 160 NBA games with the Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves and enjoyed a successful playing career in Europe.
Scott was an assistant coach at the Perth Wildcats before moving to the Tasmania JackJumpers, taking the Perth team to a finals campaign.
In his inaugural year with the JackJumpers, Scott recruited a playing roster in the shortest period in NBL history, taking them to a Grand Final and earning the Coach of the Year title along the way.
Presentation: Safe bodies, safe minds