Think of risk management as part of an ecosystem

Good old fashioned risk management came from the Henry Ford production lines but this is no longer a way of working in new, modern, complex business environments is the advise to risk managers from StrategicRISK’s RIsk Forum Australia. 

ICare chief risk officer, Gavin Pearce, said risk managers need to consider what is fit for purpose for their organisation, rather than using traditional techniques or using techniques learned in previous positions. 

Getting a seat at the table is part of the process, said Pearce, because risk management should have the widest possible view of the organisation. 

Speaking the language in the business and ensuring the risk team does not have any bias towards any particular department in their organisation will assist the risk department to integrate properly into the business. 

“How do you access the risk of doing something completely different. Looking to the past is not a very helpful way of risk management,” said Pearce. 

Risk managers need to focus on clarifying their organisation’s “appetite for failure” as a metric to help boards understand that failure in the pursuit of success is part of the process. 

“Celebrate failure as much as success” gives risk managers a chance to learn, said Pearce.