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Sunset over office buildings | CRO Coaching | Jon Macdonald | www.AlwaysChoose.com

Become an Outstanding
Chief Risk Officer 

Coaching, Mentoring and Advice for CROs Who Aspire to Be The Best.

We support CROs like you create Outstanding Risk Functions through our tried and tested methods.

The Board and Business want agile, engaging and impactful
Is your Risk Function delivering all three to world-class levels? 

If you are unsure or know it is not, then contact us today to book
your
free exploratory call. 

Our Clients Include:

~Those in their first executive risk role wanting to get it right first time.

~Those who have been in role for a number of years and wish to maximise their impact.

~Highly experienced CROs who want to refresh their approach, and/or seek constructive advice, reflection, and challenge on their strategy and approach to current issues. 

To book your 15 minute introductory meeting you can send us a message at
enquiries@alwayschoose.com
or click below to book directly with our scheduling service.

If you experience one or more of these problems then we should talk.

Calm Sea

Frustrated at not yet being able to make the big impact you thought possible

Struggling with excessive time demands from managing your function and committees

Calm Sea

Feeling stressed in making authoritative decisions that could impact the health of the business and your career

No trusted, experienced and confidential supporter to bounce ideas off

Being unclear how to best navigate Board dynamics, or support the NEDs and Chairperson

Under pressure to prove you and your function's worth to the Board and CEO

Calm Sea

Challenged by managing shifting expectations and priorities

Hijacked by surprise regulatory interventions,  an unwanted regulatory agenda or unhelpful regulatory timescales 

Not yet having a leadership team or function that you can rely on 

Under pressure to show strong Employee Engagement whilst also introducing headcount reductions

If you experience one or more of these problems then we should have a conversation.

Frustration at not yet being able to make the big impact you thought possible? 

You are not alone in this. Using our method you can learn to have an impact that you never imagined possible.

Struggling with excessive time demands from managing your function and committees?

I ran my function with 0.5 days of managerial commitment per week and had World Class engagement and leadership scores. I can share how to do this yourself. 

Feeling stressed in making authoritative decisions that could impact the health of the business and your career?

You will learn how to make these decisions, and execute them, in a way that is calm, confident, collaborative and creates a no-surprises ethos. 

No trusted, experienced and confidential supporter to bounce ideas off?

This is one of the most valuable aspects for our clients. We provide confidential support, challenge and advocacy for those who work with us.

 

Being unclear how to navigate Board dynamics, and how best support the NEDs and Chairperson?

I have many years of board level experience, as Executive Director and CRO concurrently. You will learn how to increase your skill - orchestrating your delivery to meet everyone's needs. 
 

Under pressure to prove you and your function's worth to the Board and CEO?

I will show you how to never hear the question "what value do you bring?" again and direct the conversation to where you know it should be.

Challenged by managing shifting expectations and priorities?

The demands on the Risk function change more often than any other function. You will learn a tried and tested methodology to control this precisely.

Hijacked by regulatory surprises e.g. interventions, an unwanted agenda or unhelpful timescales?

I had zero surprise regulatory interventions in all of my CRO roles due to my regulatory methodology which you can learn as well.
 

Not yet having a leadership team or function that you can rely on?

Building an outstanding leadership team is so much easier than you might think. In my career I developed a way to do this specifically to ensure sufficient credibility with the business and succession planning. Let me support you here in doing the same. 

Under pressure to show strong Employee Engagement whilst also introducing cost and headcount reductions?

I ran functions with Gallup World Class levels of engagement and leadership throughout major cost and headcount reduction programmes. If this a concern of yours bring this to our introductory call to find out how to up your scores.

To become Outstanding is easier than you might think.

To book your 15 minute introductory meeting you can send us a message at
enquiries@alwayschoose.com
or click below to book directly with our scheduling service.

About Your Coach, Mentor and Advisor

Jon Macdonald BSc FIA

Jon Macdonald _ AlwaysChoose_edited.jpg
  • Extensive CRO and Executive Board Director career across life and pensions insurance, casualty insurance, reinsurance, banking and consulting sectors.

  • Overseen $2 trillion of assets and more than 1,000 CxOs and senior executives.

  • Created and led high impact Risk & Compliance functions with Gallup world-class engagement and leadership scores.

  • Created >$billion capital under extreme market conditions.

  • Executed >$billion hedging programmes.

  • Sponsored >$300m change projects.

  • One of the first in the CRO role and in collaboration with my peers was instrumental in shaping the original blueprint for the CRO role as used globally today.

"I am passionate about CROs being outstanding at the board table and a catalyst for positive and meaningful change to our business world in the areas we personally care about."

Jon Macdonald

Are you curious? Perhaps you have some questions about how we can help you and your function become outstanding.

Send us a message to enquiries@alwayschoose.com
or click below to book your intro call directly with our scheduling service.

The Old CRO Operating Model
 Adequate but not Exceptional

  • Inherited inefficient structures with new layers of complexity added into the mix

  • Reactive rather than insight driven

  • Following other people's agenda

  • Playing safe and being tentative about making the bold and brave choices

  • Important opinions lost amongst excessively long committee papers

  • Learnt leadership from people who are under-developed in their leadership capability and possibly not even CROs

It's Time for Something Different

Welcome To The New
CRO Operating Model

Working with our tried and tested method, CROs are​ now introducing a new operating model which re-engineers for success across three distinct dimensions.

Structural | Relational | Outcome

This drives a dramatic and measurable uplift in both performance and efficiency at individual and functional levels.

What would make the biggest difference to you and your function if it were to begin to change today?

How This Works

Step 1: Ask your assistant to book in your 15 minute intro conversation where Jon Macdonald will answer any questions you might have before you work with us.

Step 2: On choosing to take it further we will get really clear on the specific problems you want to solve.

Step 3: We will then collaborate to create a bespoke program to support your goals. These are structured to suit your budget with units of work generally priced from between £5k-£25k.

Step 4: You will then see fast results on specific problems, experiencing immediate benefits for you and your colleagues. 

Create a Legacy to be Proud Of

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