By documenting risks the business faces, intractable problems find shared solutions

Business risk management has a chequered reputation. Thrust upon organisations with little buy-in from directors it's next to useless. When done well it will imbed itself into the organisation, allowing a culture of continuous improvement and service excellence to develop. To illustrate here are some scenarios showing what could be achieved:

• An organisation regarded employees as their biggest asset, yet staff retention and develop programmes were siloed with the human resources manager. Getting the matter onto a risk management plan ensured it became a matter of strategic importance, having cross organisational input.
• A regulated company was constantly being reactive to compliance matters and getting into trouble. As a result of getting regulation on to a business risk management plan a director was appointed as the boards ‘champion’ to oversee regulatory change.
• The founding owner of a medium sized business wanted to retire, but all big decisions were made by him, based on personal experience. In order to plan his exit, a risk management plan identified the need for a management succession plan and a process of knowledge transfer.

Having implemented a business risk management plan into a £130 million business, I understand what it means to imbed risk into an organisation and the road blocks that can arise along the way.

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