I have initiated a risk management type activity in my organization.. but unfortunately my senior do not seem to be taking it more seriously. I also gave a presentation along with a couple of case studies where projects failed due lack of risk assessment and risk management. Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Forget about to convince somebody with statistics. You have to work on perception to demostrate them they will have or they have a problem. Mainly, to demostrate them they will have more rich with the solution you give them than without it, where rich does not mean more money only. And it depends on your stakeholders. In the risk field, you have basically risk seeking people (entreprneurs or people that own the business), risk adverse (controllers, auditors, etc) and risk neutrals (administrators, etc) so each one will perceive the risks in a way and perception is what moving to action. To sell somthing which helped me a lot (while I am not a seller) are things like SPIN Selling method. Search into the internet and you will find it. Saving Changes...
As Sergio has indicated, this is a sales problem. Dr. David Hillson says risk is uncertainty that matters and I'd extend his definition to be "effective risk management is a practice that matters". If you can't make it matter to stakeholders who will support it, you need to figure out the "lever" to use to convince them of its value.
I've used the analogy of insurance in the past.
Would you invest in a major asset without purchasing some insurance to reduce the likelihood or impact of realized risks? Projects are, after all, investments so risk management (right-sized and tailored to fit the project) is a good practice.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
Typically owners and senior managers understand the concept of risk and benefits. The greater the risk the greater the potential for benefit to compensate.
You have to be able to show that risk-driven project management will put money in their pocket. Don't just focus on the risk and negative impacts but bring in the opportunity to identify and enhance project benefits (positive impacts). Some seniors see risk management as a cost rather than an investment and this perception is reinforced because a good risk management plan will prevent bad things from happening and reduce the impact of bad things happening. They only see the result and not the process of achieving the results.
Their response: "Why did we spend so much effort on the plan - most of what you predicted didn't happened and what did happen was easily dealt with."
They don't see this as the result of the plan but in spite of the plan.
Maybe if you explain that the sole purpose and objective of management, including project management, is to manage risks. If there are no risk - no need to manage. If there are risks then there is a need to identify, analyze, avoid and/or mitigate. Saving Changes...
I've had mixed experiences with risk management. The majority of people that aren't interested in risk management that I've dealt with seem to fall into two camps, 1) those that just expect you to do it without bothering them, and 2) those who feel the process is too formal, that the effort is greater than the benefit.
I don't always do this, but I learned an approach, at a conference, from Terri Carbone (she writes about it in her book 'Project Sponsorship: Winning Strategies for Executive Leaders'), where you ask a simple question about the project - "What keeps you up at night?" This is highly simplified, but you can often treat the responses as risks - put them on the register, identify probability and impact, assign them to an owner, track them, etc...
Keep in mind that what I've described is modified, from what is written in the book, to deal with extreme cases. It doesn't eliminate all resistance to risk management, but it helps introduce it and minimizes the perception of bureaucracy. Saving Changes...
Actually, the sole purpose was to identify the project related risks and rank them (only qualitative analysis). We formed a risk register where we mentioned all potential risks. Now here comes the problem, we have not been able to rank them yet as we neither have assigned the probability nor their impacts. Despite of continuous follow up via emails, nobody is responding. Should I start doing everything by myself and record & monitor them separately or should i keep following it up or should i put aside this risk things ( does not feel good to to put it aside) Saving Changes...
Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
I agree with Sergio & Kiron.
Peter is spot on on the perception vs reality of the project. However, I believe that the purpose of the project is to deliver the best value in the end product or the service that the project has to accomplish. As such, risk management is thus complimentary activity to accomplish that best product/service value without which good project management practice cannot exists.
You can show the senior management the presentation, but usually good eye openers are when similar methodology to A/B testing is used in risk presentations. What-if scenarios don't usually convey the importance of the risk because they don't feel it.
In the end, you creating the risk management activity is commendable for taking an initiative but is this the right approach to managing risk? What is that activity? Let us know more.
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1 reply by Syed Haider Hussain Zaidi
Mar 27, 2020 2:42 PM
Syed Haider Hussain Zaidi
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Thanks for responding. As I mentioned earlier its an initiative, therefore currently we have ended up with risk identifications... also considering COVID-19 as one of the risks that would effect the procurement and productions... So far I have not been able to collect the responses on tanking those identified risks..
Staying positive and continuously following with seniors for their responses.
I agree with Sergio & Kiron.
Peter is spot on on the perception vs reality of the project. However, I believe that the purpose of the project is to deliver the best value in the end product or the service that the project has to accomplish. As such, risk management is thus complimentary activity to accomplish that best product/service value without which good project management practice cannot exists.
You can show the senior management the presentation, but usually good eye openers are when similar methodology to A/B testing is used in risk presentations. What-if scenarios don't usually convey the importance of the risk because they don't feel it.
In the end, you creating the risk management activity is commendable for taking an initiative but is this the right approach to managing risk? What is that activity? Let us know more.
Thanks for responding. As I mentioned earlier its an initiative, therefore currently we have ended up with risk identifications... also considering COVID-19 as one of the risks that would effect the procurement and productions... So far I have not been able to collect the responses on tanking those identified risks..
Staying positive and continuously following with seniors for their responses.
...
1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Mar 28, 2020 9:21 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
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It could be hard to obtain responces while people are acting as fire fighters on this type of situations. Think about you in a situation like September 11 on the USA where you have to take decisions and one person goes you with a list of risks and ask for answers. I am not saying is your situation, I do not have infomration, but is the same when some people ask me for using formal project management inside an organization which is in the growth phase. Forget about it. So, I think is better you take that list and start recording what is happend, which are or will be the consecuences and mainly lost, because each item happended. And help organization to work on current issues instead of risks. Whith that said, take into account that my attitude and what I support is always prevent instead of cure. But like in sports, sometimes you are in attack position and sometimes you are in deffensive position where in the last situation you always have to be aware to change the position to attack.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Mar 27, 2020 2:42 PM
Replying to Syed Haider Hussain Zaidi
...
Thanks for responding. As I mentioned earlier its an initiative, therefore currently we have ended up with risk identifications... also considering COVID-19 as one of the risks that would effect the procurement and productions... So far I have not been able to collect the responses on tanking those identified risks..
Staying positive and continuously following with seniors for their responses.
It could be hard to obtain responces while people are acting as fire fighters on this type of situations. Think about you in a situation like September 11 on the USA where you have to take decisions and one person goes you with a list of risks and ask for answers. I am not saying is your situation, I do not have infomration, but is the same when some people ask me for using formal project management inside an organization which is in the growth phase. Forget about it. So, I think is better you take that list and start recording what is happend, which are or will be the consecuences and mainly lost, because each item happended. And help organization to work on current issues instead of risks. Whith that said, take into account that my attitude and what I support is always prevent instead of cure. But like in sports, sometimes you are in attack position and sometimes you are in deffensive position where in the last situation you always have to be aware to change the position to attack. Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
Issues are the present, risks are the future. Yes, the present, the here and now, has a higher priority but if you do not think and plan for the future you will always be in firefighting mode. Even when in panic you have to think of the consequences of decisions - that is called risk management. There are those that thrive on panic situations, on crises management, but that is not the best approach to project delivery. I much prefer a boring project where there are no surprises, where events have been identified and responses pre-planned.
In a project setting there is no reason why a manager cannot deal with today's issues while anticipating and planning for tomorrow's challenges. Saving Changes...
I would focus exclusively on the cost implication of a set of risks being realised on a project.
In order to get your point across to senior management you need to make it as personable as possible and bring it home to them how not identifying risk early on in a project or not all could in the long run put them out of business.
It is normal in projects to penalise contractors who failure to deliver on time or fail to meet their terms of their contract or miss important deadlines, milestones and delivery dates.
If a project fails as a result of a known or highlighted risk then this could have far reaching implications.
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