Give the board “irrefutable facts” and data if you want to raise the profile of risk

Rich data and detailed exposure analysis will help professionals raise the profile of risk to the C-suite, according to FM Global.

Peter Solloway, vice-president, regional sales manager for London and Frankfurt operations and chemical EMEA at FM Global, said that to engage the board on risk-related matters, risk managers need to do two things: first provide “irrefutable” facts about risk exposure and second use the right language.

He said: “It is critical that risk managers have sound data and sound exposure analysis such that when they go to the board they have very solid, irrefutable facts that the board can consider when trying to understand the hierarchy of exposures that [the company] is facing.”

On language, Solloway said: “How do [risk managers] position [risk information] to the board? If [that information] is not well backed-up with factual analysis or a sense of where the [company’s] key strategic sites are, then the board is going to be less certain of what they are going to do with that [information].”

He added that it is important to focus on the upside of risk. Demonstrating the company’s continuity measures and how they respond to major exposures will get the attention of the board. He said: “There is an upside as well as a downside to risk and the more we can privilege that discourse with the board, the more successful risk managers will be.”