Risk management training

Risk management is the discipline of trying to control uncertainty. All change involves uncertainty, and managing uncertainty – or risk – is fundamental to an organisation's project, programme and portfolio management, helping to identify, assess and control risks and put in place effective frameworks for making informed decisions.

Risk is inherent in everything you do – and particularly as a professional in the context of a business. It’s impossible to control everything, so as your environment changes, so must the organisation, and yourself. All major decisions within organisations – at strategic, portfolio, programme, project, product, and operational levels – are made with risk in mind. 

Risk in project management is an uncertain event or set of events that, should it occur, will influence the achievement of your objectives, whether for better or (more likely) worse.  

But remember: risk isn’t all bad! Risks can either be threats (downside risks) or opportunities (upside risks). Upside, or positive, risks are opportunities that can affect the project in beneficial ways, like finishing the project early or having more customers than you accounted for. However, these can quickly become negative risks, and vice versa, if not effectively planned for. 

All project risks are unplanned by default, but only some are foreseeable. Risks can be known, unknown, or unknowable. Known risks are already visible, and your team is aware of them through risk management planning (see below). Unknown risk has not been discussed in the planning stage and is only known by a limited number of people. Therefore, your risk management plan should focus on discovering these risks and devising an effective response. Unknowable risk is risk that no one could reasonably predict – like accidents, illnesses, or technological failure.  

 A great risk management plan prepares for all eventualities and types of risk. Bringing together the identification, prioritisation, and responses to risks is all part of the scope of risk management. 

Decision-makers need to find ways of finding out what is known and what is uncertain that would have an impact on objectives should the uncertainty become a reality. Some of this uncertainty may help achieve your objectives (for example, risk opportunity or upside risk) and some of this uncertainty may hinder achieving your objectives (such as risk threats or downside risk). Some uncertainty might be a risk opportunity to one stakeholder yet a risk threat to another stakeholder. All uncertainty must be identified and managed throughout. 

Taking and managing risk is essential to business survival and growth. Effective risk management is likely to improve performance against objectives. But it must be designed to meet your organisational needs, considering both the internal and external environments. 

Every organisation can benefit from team members that know how to manage risk. Here are some of the skills that great risk managers may possess. 

Resilience 

This is ability of a person or an organisation to deal with unplanned events and respond strongly, ideally addressing not only anything that has been lost, but turning the adversity into an opportunity for greater value to be created in future. 

The ability to identify, prioritise, and commit to proactive or reactive responses to risk is the route to resilience. Resilience is also enabled by agility. Both resilience and agility depend on a culture that supports collaboration and continual learning.

Enterprise agility 

This is a condition of an organisation more than an individual – but refers to a workforce that can be flexible and responsive to its consistently changing environment. Enterprise agility (also called corporate agility or organisational agility) enables the organisation to remain resilient.

Analytical  

Risk managers need analytical skills to collect data and make important decisions using that data. They also need to spot holes and weaknesses that others may have missed in the systems, infrastructure and other areas. 

Leadership 

Leadership refers to how you motivate and direct people to achieve the objectives. Leaders need to display a positive commitment to risk management and ensure this is fully supported. 

Collaboration 

Collaboration helps you build relationships and share information and understanding, improving the way your team works together and solves problems. This leads to more innovation, efficient processes, increased success, and improved communication. Through listening to and learning from team members, you can help each other reach your objectives. 

Support 

Support is key to embedding risk management. This can be achieved through on-going learning and development. Having a neutral facilitator will also help to fully support the decision-making process. 

Recognition 

Recognition and reward systems should be implemented for appropriate risk behaviours. When your team understands the benefits and acceptable behaviours of good risk management, they are more likely to embrace this. The formality or informality of reward and recognition is down to each organisation. 

Financial and regulatory knowledge 

It is important that a good risk manager knows the average costs of risks, as well as keeping up with any regulation changes.  

Competence 

This is, in short, the ability to do something successfully. This is built up over time by refining all the skills listed above. 

Risk managers help to identify and assess factors that can be classed as a risk for an organisation, most commonly in regard to finances, strategy, operations, information technology and reputation. 

1. Environmental compliance specialist 

Evaluates the environmental risk of a company's policies, procedures, and production, with a focus on the triple bottom line previously mentioned. They ensure that an organisation is operating within legal guidelines. They are often responsible for conducting inspections, investigating the effects of pollutants, and writing reports. 

2. Compliance consultant

Evaluating and improving the operations and management strategies in place in companies and industries. They study laws and governmental policies that apply to specific industry contexts. They write compliance plans, provide training, and design company-specific regulations. 

3. Compliance officers

Focus on evaluating and improving the operations of that specific organisation. They study and interpret laws and governmental policies relating to the industry they work in. They write compliance plans and reports, design regulatory tools and advise on implementation. 

4. Risk analysts

Help companies review project proposals, either as an outside consultant for many clients or within a company. They use their knowledge of the law, policy, and societal demand to analyse proposals and advise companies on how to alter their plans. Their primary duties include reviewing documents, developing plans, analysing data and writing mitigation reports. 

5. Operational leaders 

Responsible for the reliable and efficient delivery of products and services and therefore the risks to achieving such delivery.  

6. Operational managers

Supporting the operational leader they help in leadership of an operation, and the efficacy of risk management within that operation.  

7. Risk process expert

Responsible for providing support as needed to operational managers and leaders. This may be to facilitate risk sessions, support specialist techniques, or ensure reporting is accurate.  

8. Risk specialist

Responsible for supporting particularly risky areas of the business; for example, health and safety, data privacy, or business continuity.  

9. Insurance manager

Responsible for progressing insurance claims and monitoring the adequacy of insurance cover.