Lessons‑Led Change: Embedding Lessons into Response at Operational Tempo
Tracks
Gold Coast Ballroom
| Tuesday, July 28, 2026 |
| 11:20 AM - 11:50 AM |
| Gold Coast Room |
Overview
Sanna Verhoef & Chris Jacobson, Transport For NSW
Details
Three Key Learnings
1. Lessons‑led organisational change created readiness for a high‑stakes, unfamiliar activation.
Sustained lessons management application has reshaped enterprise activation pathways, coordination arrangements and shared understanding, enabling TfNSW to align quickly and respond effectively during the Bondi terrorism event.
Mature lessons foundations created the space to adapt under pressure.
Because standards, governance and roles were already established and understood, TfNSW could stretch and adapt its lessons approach as operational tempo increased.
2. Activations outpaced the lessons lifecycle.
3. Strategies for applying lessons during continuous operations, bypassing formal processes to enable early application while preserving credibility and the ability to formally close the lessons lifecycle.
Speaker
Mr Chris Jacobson
Manager Emergency Management Capability
Transport For NSW
Lessons‑Led Change: Embedding Lessons into Response at Operational Tempo
Abstract
What happens when the next activation occurs before lessons from the last one are formally closed? For Transport for NSW (TfNSW), this became a practical challenge as successive activations required lesson application to occur in parallel with live response. This presentation examines how TfNSW has progressively matured lessons management from an exercise‑informed framework into an embedded enterprise approach shaped and tested through real operational events.
The early development of TfNSW’s Lessons Management Standard was closely linked to Executive Crisis Management Team exercises, which provided a disciplined testing ground for capturing, validating and implementing lessons with sustained senior engagement. Insights from this work led to tangible organisational change, including clearer enterprise activation pathways, the establishment of an Enterprise Incident Management Team function, and a multi‑level enterprise incident and crisis management framework.
As operational tempo increased, TfNSW recognised that traditional, retrospective after‑action reviews could not keep pace with implementation timeframes or support timely decision‑making. Lessons practices were therefore evolved to prioritise real‑time learning, using targeted executive interviews and continuous engagement with operational leaders to capture, validate and prioritise observations while responses were still underway.
The value of this approach became evident during the Bondi terrorism event activation, where exercised leaders, embedded frameworks and established enterprise processes supported a coordinated response under sustained pressure. The event demonstrated that lessons management, when integrated into operations, can directly influence preparedness, response effectiveness and post‑event learning.
This presentation reflects on how lessons identified have been translated into organisational change in practice, strengthening performance across successive activations and offering transferable insights for agencies operating in high‑tempo, continuously activated contexts.
The early development of TfNSW’s Lessons Management Standard was closely linked to Executive Crisis Management Team exercises, which provided a disciplined testing ground for capturing, validating and implementing lessons with sustained senior engagement. Insights from this work led to tangible organisational change, including clearer enterprise activation pathways, the establishment of an Enterprise Incident Management Team function, and a multi‑level enterprise incident and crisis management framework.
As operational tempo increased, TfNSW recognised that traditional, retrospective after‑action reviews could not keep pace with implementation timeframes or support timely decision‑making. Lessons practices were therefore evolved to prioritise real‑time learning, using targeted executive interviews and continuous engagement with operational leaders to capture, validate and prioritise observations while responses were still underway.
The value of this approach became evident during the Bondi terrorism event activation, where exercised leaders, embedded frameworks and established enterprise processes supported a coordinated response under sustained pressure. The event demonstrated that lessons management, when integrated into operations, can directly influence preparedness, response effectiveness and post‑event learning.
This presentation reflects on how lessons identified have been translated into organisational change in practice, strengthening performance across successive activations and offering transferable insights for agencies operating in high‑tempo, continuously activated contexts.
Biography
Chris Jacobson is an emergency management leader with experience strengthening enterprise readiness and leading crisis activation across complex operating environments. He currently leads security, crisis and emergency management capability at Transport for NSW and has served in Acting Director roles leading enterprise activation during high-consequence incidents. Chris has also held national leadership roles with Surf Life Saving Australia, providing strategic direction on lifesaving services and capability across state and territory lifesaving bodies, focused on improving public safety outcomes. He has a strong interest in executive preparedness and practical approaches that help organisations make confident decisions under pressure.
Ms Sanna Verhoef
Senior Lessons Officer
Transport For NSW
Lessons‑Led Change: Embedding Lessons into Response at Operational Tempo
Abstract
What happens when the next activation occurs before lessons from the last one are formally closed? For Transport for NSW (TfNSW), this became a practical challenge as successive activations required lesson application to occur in parallel with live response. This presentation examines how TfNSW has progressively matured lessons management from an exercise‑informed framework into an embedded enterprise approach shaped and tested through real operational events.
The early development of TfNSW’s Lessons Management Standard was closely linked to Executive Crisis Management Team exercises, which provided a disciplined testing ground for capturing, validating and implementing lessons with sustained senior engagement. Insights from this work led to tangible organisational change, including clearer enterprise activation pathways, the establishment of an Enterprise Incident Management Team function, and a multi‑level enterprise incident and crisis management framework.
As operational tempo increased, TfNSW recognised that traditional, retrospective after‑action reviews could not keep pace with implementation timeframes or support timely decision‑making. Lessons practices were therefore evolved to prioritise real‑time learning, using targeted executive interviews and continuous engagement with operational leaders to capture, validate and prioritise observations while responses were still underway.
The value of this approach became evident during the Bondi terrorism event activation, where exercised leaders, embedded frameworks and established enterprise processes supported a coordinated response under sustained pressure. The event demonstrated that lessons management, when integrated into operations, can directly influence preparedness, response effectiveness and post‑event learning.
This presentation reflects on how lessons identified have been translated into organisational change in practice, strengthening performance across successive activations and offering transferable insights for agencies operating in high‑tempo, continuously activated contexts.
The early development of TfNSW’s Lessons Management Standard was closely linked to Executive Crisis Management Team exercises, which provided a disciplined testing ground for capturing, validating and implementing lessons with sustained senior engagement. Insights from this work led to tangible organisational change, including clearer enterprise activation pathways, the establishment of an Enterprise Incident Management Team function, and a multi‑level enterprise incident and crisis management framework.
As operational tempo increased, TfNSW recognised that traditional, retrospective after‑action reviews could not keep pace with implementation timeframes or support timely decision‑making. Lessons practices were therefore evolved to prioritise real‑time learning, using targeted executive interviews and continuous engagement with operational leaders to capture, validate and prioritise observations while responses were still underway.
The value of this approach became evident during the Bondi terrorism event activation, where exercised leaders, embedded frameworks and established enterprise processes supported a coordinated response under sustained pressure. The event demonstrated that lessons management, when integrated into operations, can directly influence preparedness, response effectiveness and post‑event learning.
This presentation reflects on how lessons identified have been translated into organisational change in practice, strengthening performance across successive activations and offering transferable insights for agencies operating in high‑tempo, continuously activated contexts.
Biography
Sanna Verhoef is a lessons management practitioner with experience working across complex, high‑accountability environments. At Transport for NSW, she has led the development and implementation of enterprise lessons management across security, crisis and emergency management, shaping how lessons are identified, governed and translated into organisational change. Her background spans education, capability development and regulatory settings, informing a practical, evidence‑based approach to learning and improvement. Sanna’s work focuses on ensuring operational insight is applied in ways that support decision‑making and performance.
