With only 3 business days until our official launch, we give you a preview of some of the tools, templates and case studies we will be releasing as part of our Intelligence platform
Has the COVID-19 outbreak made you think any more about the strengths or weaknesses of your risk culture?
For many risk managers in our network, the outbreak has made them question their risk culture in terms of if and how it supports the company in times of crisis.
What values, behaviours and attitudes do you want employees to display during a crisis (or indeed before one emerges)?
How do you support the business to elicit from their employees the desired values, behaviours and attitudes?
And how do you link these attributes to your company’s strategy, performance and mission values?
So many questions to answer!
But we attempt to do just that or, at least, share with you some of the tools and templates that our Members have developed to improve their risk culture.
All this insight will be made available in our Intelligence platform on the day of our official launch – Wednesday 29th April.
Each case study, tool and template focuses on the how – that is, in key steps, how our risk manager Members have developed their approach, tools and templates.
Of course, the Intelligence platform forms just one part of our services. We dive deeper into the topics explored here in our interactive and collaborative network services – virtual meetings (roundtables, conference calls and webinars) and private messaging – all accessible through our Member Portal.
But before we cut the ribbon, here is a brief summary of a few of the Member case studies sitting to be released on Wednesday 29th April.
1. Creating the right culture at the right time
Initiating a culture leadership programme can help identify the social risks that a ‘business as usual’ approach may expose a business to.
Drawing up a success map or blueprint for cultural change can help you define the behavioural expectations and priority areas to focus on.
Businesses can use this to help them maintain a leading market role, build stronger relationships, and create an explicitly safe speak-up culture.
2. Building a cultural change programme with your senior managers
Senior managers need to be on board in order to effectively change or improve your risk culture.
Gathering behavioural data about your existing culture is critical for understanding the underlying assumptions that influence decision-making in the business.
Confidential interviews, surveys and artificial intelligence technology (behavioural analytics) can all give you valuable insights. All data should be triangulated to ensure that trends and insights are valid and useful.
Using test-and-learn approaches and supporting local management teams to drive their own culture change initiatives is an effective way to achieve change.
While high-level data should be presented to senior management/exec teams, it is line managers, area managers and employees themselves that are best placed to act on this information.
3. Using behavioural psychology to build risk culture
Organisational risk management is affected by the risk attitudes of senior decision-makers and risk owners, in particular their ability to recognise and respond to probable risks.
Risk managers can seek to understand the risk appetites and attitudes of their boards by using an evaluation framework.
Once you better understand your company’s risk personalities, you can begin introducing diversity and avoid ‘groupthink’. This will lead to better decision-making.
4. Making risk culture reviews a positive experience
A self-assessment tool is a great way of reviewing risk culture. It enables you to map out evidence-based attributes to culture elements.
This can come in the form of a survey. Answers to the survey questions can then be plotted on a map and results aggregated to come to a set of agreed outcomes.
5. Reviewing your risk culture reporting
Scorecards are a great way of reviewing and reporting risk culture to the board.
Some companies produce two scorecards – one specifically for risk culture and another of organisational culture. It is important to ensure that the indicators are aligned.
For some, it was important for risk culture to be separately addressed and reported to the board to support discussions and views on risk generally.
6. Enhancing risk culture by re-imagining risk appetite
Converting your risk appetite statement into tangible risk indicators is a powerful way of improving your risk culture.
The indicators should be integrated into your company’s risk management processes, so that the articulation of appetite could be used by executive and frontline staff on a day-to-day basis.
7. Getting consultative on appetite and culture
The initial challenge is getting people excited about risks. But taking a consultative approach with stakeholders can help draw out new ways of improving culture.
Key considerations include:
- Pinpointing key strategic objectives and engaging with HR.
- Compliance training should meet mutual needs and cultural traits must support good risk management.
- Creating a culture table, running workshops and embedding culture questions into surveys.
8. Getting better at engaging HR
HR often owns and controls risk culture, so working collaboratively with them is critical to the success of building a risk culture.
It is important to consider how working with HR could achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. What does ‘good’ look like from each perspective?
Here are some tips:
- Start a conversation with HR about culture that does not involve talking about ‘culture’ and ‘risk appetite’ conceptually. Try and direct the conversation to practical elements: what is needed for the organisation to meet its objectives?
- Talk about the cultural traits and behaviours that support good risk management. For instance, what behaviours, actions and values are needed?
- Involve the HR team in running a risk workshop
- Explore whether staff engagement surveys provide insight into risk culture, and how surveys could be adjusted in the future to provide more data.
9. Auditing the risk culture of your audit team
A survey could also be used to audit the risk culture of your audit team. To add an extra layer of insight, talk to suppliers, business partners and customers to obtain a ‘culture pulse’.
This will help to uncover some specific cultural behaviours.
10. Keeping your code of conduct current
Incorporating the following information into your code of conduct will ensure its relevance:
- Whistleblower feedback
- Expert advice
- Updates on the issues the company faces
The Risk Leadership Network’s Intelligence platform will be open to Members from 29th April 2020.
We’re working with risk leaders and their teams to transform how they exchange knowledge with peers. Are you an in-house risk manager who could benefit from access to a global network of senior risk professionals? Talk to us about becoming a Member today.
