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Back to SearchGHD leaders discussed the company’s response to COVID-19 and the urgency to be more innovative than ever before in the post-pandemic recovery in a webinar hosted by the New Colombo Plan and Monash University.
In opening the webinar, Steve Robinson AO, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, acknowledged GHD’s support for the New Colombo Plan, a flagship Australian Government program that provides university students with opportunities to live, study and work in the Indo-Pacific region. The webinar was chaired by Joel Kennaway, a New Colombo Plan scholar who completed an internship with GHD in the Philippines.
Rob Knott, GHD’s Chairman, spoke of the company’s 92 years of history that has seen GHD continue to deliver lasting community benefit through global crises like the Great Depression and the Second World War.
“It’s a fact of history that after every economic or societal disruption there are opportunities and periods of sustained recovery,” Rob said. “While the current crisis has reinforced boundaries and borders, it’s evident that all of us as global citizens need to work together even more in recovery.”
Ian Fraser, Executive General Manager – Asia Pacific, said that despite radically different conditions in each country, regular communications from leaders and ‘town hall’ events have united GHD’s employees across cultures. He emphasised how business services – information technology, finance, human resources and legal – have been critical in maintaining business continuity, safeguarding employees’ wellbeing and preparing for a return to the office.
“Organisations must first have the fundamental governance structures and principles in place to guide the business in times of crisis in order for this exploration of new ways of working to flourish. You must get the basics right first,” Ian said.
May Ngui, GHD’s Regional General Manager – Canberra and Southern New South Wales, spoke about the need to reimagine infrastructure delivery and adopt more agile and design thinking approaches in an uncertain post-COVID world.
“When projects are delivered in a ‘linear’ fashion, for example, as typical sequential programs of works, there is a bigger fall-out from interruptions caused by a crisis such as COVID-19,” May said. “However, if there is agility or ‘non-linearity’ built into the linear approach, it offers the possibility of enabling a pivot to other useful outcomes.”
