Guide to Effective Risk Management 3.0

Abstract

Nowadays, risk management is on everyone’s corporate agenda; let it be a private or public organisation. A special attention to risk management is paid by governments, stock exchanges, shareholders and regulators. However, this hasn’t always been the case.

We began our risk management research back in 2007. This was the time when most large non-financial corporations were just starting to build risk management functions and implementing risk management frameworks. At the time, our study showed that risk management was largely driven by the stock exchange requirements and was very basic in nature.

Today, as we continue to adapt to a highly volatile environment, businesses are becoming more proactive about risk management. Is this just a facade or are organisations truly becoming more risk aware?

During our research, we were pleasantly surprised by how many companies have already recognized the limitations of “stand-alone” and “separate” risk management processes and are proactive in integrating risk management into decision-making, core business processes and the overall culture of the organisation. We have collated best practices from more than a dozen mature organisations to propose an alternative approach to risk management. An approach without the heat maps, risk registers, risk frameworks or risk mitigation plans. For several years, we have tested and validated the findings both locally and internationally. Based on our research and the interviews, we have summarized fifteen practical ideas on how to improve the integration of risk management into the daily life of the organisation. These were grouped into three high level objectives: drive risk culture, help integrate risk management into business and become a trusted adviser.

This document is designed as a practical implementation guide. We recommend using it as such. Each section is accompanied by checklists, video references, useful links and templates.

Keywords: risk, risk management, decision making, risk taking, risk owners, risk assessments, risk-based thinking

JEL Classification: G30, G32, G13