Allura Partners is strategically expanding its Melbourne presence by engaging Principal Consultant Chris Oughton.
Chris, who will focus on recruitment for organisations undergoing transformation and change, is originally from the United Kingdom. However, he’s spent the past 14 years recruiting senior transformation, ERP and change professionals across Australia and international markets.
Niall Ross, Director at Allura Partners, said engaging Chris will significantly strengthen the Melbourne office, which has now been up and running for two years. “We’re being extremely strategic about our growth,” Niall said. “We’re engaging with recruiters who are commercially minded, who know their market, and who want to be part of a business that is scaling the right way.
“Chris’s extensive experience partnering with organisations going through large transformation projects makes him an invaluable addition to the team.”
A Strategic Next Step
For Chris, joining Allura Partners is an opportunity to broaden his experience and grow his professional career within a small but expanding team that works closely with Allura Partners’ well-established Sydney head office.
“I was really impressed meeting Niall – I liked his strategic approach to growing the Melbourne office and the collaborative focus of the team."
“Looking at the success of Allura Partners’ Sydney office, I could see it would be exciting to be working here in Melbourne, as part of the bigger organisation. I wanted to be part of that journey.”
From Dive Master to Transformation Specialist
Chris’ career to date has been nothing but exciting. Having completed high school in the United Kingdom, he started out as a scuba diving instructor in Thailand, progressing to Dive Master. “It was an amazing time. No mobile phones then; you had to pay to log into the internet. I was totally disconnected.”
Returning to the UK, Chris had a plan to build a career in recruitment, however he found he had to prove his ability in sales first, and so he took a job with a pay TV company. “It was horrendous, but at least I got credibility for my ability to sell. Three months later, I took my first step into recruitment with Reed – a huge agency in the UK where I learnt all the tools of the trade.”
From there, Chris moved into human resources recruitment in the financial sector. Then, a few years on, he moved to Australia, joining Speller International, and then CloudApps Consulting, a wholly owned subsidiary of Speller International, which specialises in resourcing, recruitment and consulting for SAP.
“As Senior ERP Account Manager, I was working with the SAP Change, Training and Documentation division, providing consultants from change management (including organisational), change lead, change analysts, trainers, technical writers, instructional designers, EnableNow and training coordinators,” he explained. “Information technology was undergoing a major transformation; it was fast-paced and exciting to be a part of”.
Leveraging Experience to Support Clients and Candidates
Now at Allura Partners in Melbourne, Chris hopes to leverage the skills and network he’s gained to work with clients across technology, healthcare, manufacturing, and fast-moving consumer goods. His focus will be on identifying and placing senior leaders and building out teams equipped to lead major transformation projects within corporations, ASX-listed companies, and private equity-backed organisations. This includes recruiting high-impact Project Managers, Program Managers and PMO leaders, alongside other senior change and transformation professionals who can drive strategy execution and embed sustainable change.
Asked where he sees companies most often getting it wrong, Chris points to a common oversight.
“Regardless of organisational structure, there is always resistance to change management. And that’s because a lot of companies spend millions of dollars on implementing a transformation program in IT or AI, for instance, but they'll forget about the whole human element.
“I’m keen to work with companies to ensure they have leaders in place who can bring team members along on the journey of change and provide the training to ensure everyone is equipped and excited for what’s coming.”
Opportunities on the Horizon
Considering the year ahead, Chris sees opportunities for change and transformation leaders as some of the bigger companies prepare to upgrade their ERP systems and go on their transformation journeys. “That’s going to create a ripple effect in the market”. He also pointed to further opportunities in the pipeline. “There are a lot of greenfield implementations happening this year, and they will need people. And then there are the major consultancies that have been winning work; this will create some career-building opportunities for contractors.”
Things are looking up in transformation, change management and training. If you’re interested in finding out more, contact Chris Oughton here.
