Lauren Guthrie

Career Progression

I started working at RMT in 2010 with Chemalert as a SDS Coordinator and then quickly moved to First Priority as a Solutions Consultant, working with large mining clients.

My background prior to RMT meant I brought strong communication and client management skills to the role. My strong product and technical knowledge was developed on the job, working with the highly skilled people in the RMT team.

In 2013 I was asked to move to Canberra to implement First Priority to Defence. This was an enormous and exciting project that took 1.5 years to implement and gave me plenty of autonomy and responsibility.

My current role is a Senior Solutions Consultant / Key Account Manager – Defence

The Best Part of My Job

I really enjoy getting inside the organisation I’m working with and exploring how to configure First Priority to refine their safety processes and capture quality data.

It’s a scientific process that also requires creativity and I’m very passionate about how First Priority has supported Incident, Risk and Safety management at Defence and other organisations.

RMT has also given me a chance to travel. I spent three weeks in Sweden implementing First Priority for a mining company, and I’ve travelled all around Australia running training sessions for hundreds of military and civilian personnel on Defence bases.

I get to meet incredible people who work at Defence and hear their stories. And I’ve been given the opportunity to fly in an Army Tiger Helicopter Flight simulator, tour the inside the C-130 Hercules and watching the awe-inspiring power of F/A 18 Super Hornets training.

A Typical Day

During a project implementation, as the Solutions Consultant I need to be across all aspects of the implementation, ensuring everyone has a clear understanding of the solution and their role in delivering that to the client.

We use Agile methodology and conduct sprints which have specific days allocated to client workshops for requirements discovery and collaboration, configuration of the software, coordinating testing etc.

We work to very tight timeframes, so I need to be very organised and know what the plan is for each day and be continually liaising with the client and the RMT team, plus conducting workshops, listening to feedback and providing advice and guidance.

On non-project days, I work with the client on the day-to-day use of First Priority in their organisation, doing presentations, participating in workshops and reviewing solutions with support of my RMT colleagues.

Even though I am remote to the RMT head office, we are a close and small team and I couldn’t do my job without them.