ERM professional Archives - Carol Williams

The Ultimate Primer for Effective Risk Reporting

A mechanism for ensuring leadership, business managers, and other stakeholders make risk-informed decisions and fulfill oversight duties At the end of the day, the ERM process should be regarded as a cycle or feedback loop…meaning, there’s never a definitive end point. It’s like the four seasons of the year – there’s never an end point,…

ERM Implementation: What Risk Professionals Consider the #1 Challenge To Be

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadI recently asked of fellow risk professionals “what is your single biggest challenge when it comes to ERM implementation?” What do you think the answers were? Maybe figuring out how to assess risks? Maybe integrating with strategy? Or aggregation of risks? Nope. Tone at the top! Yes, the executives…

Explaining the Why of Enterprise Risk Management

During the North Carolina State University’s ERM Roundtable Summit this fall, one of the topics of conversation focused on how to involve more people from across the organization in ERM. During this discussion, we were all asked, “how many of you have talked extensively about ‘what ERM is’ and explained ‘we are conducting surveys, interviews,…

Four Ways to Strengthen Risk Literacy in Your Organization

Math is not my strong suit. I feel more at ease at the keyboard, weaving words together. That’s not to say I’m terrible at math. In fact, I passed a rigorous calculus course in high school, and I actually enjoyed business statistics. But those days are in the distant past, and I rarely have occasion…

What to Look for in an External ERM Resource or Consultant

Extending on our theme from last week on the people side of ERM, I want to outline some things I think organizations should look for in an external ERM resource (a.k.a. “consultant”). Although I outline the skills and personal qualities of an effective ERM professional in a prior post, there are special considerations when looking…

Relationships: A Common but Fatal Mistake of Risk Management

The majority of articles on my blog focus on the process side of enterprise risk management. I’ve discussed at great length subjects like setting up an ERM program, risk identification, risk assessment, and more. However, the process and technical skills is only part of what goes into a successful, value-enhancing ERM program. If you’re like…

3 Ways to Avoid the Check-the-Box Trap in Risk Review

In both my experience and according to a white paper from PwC, a common ERM challenge is how an annual risk review becomes a check-the-box activity. It shouldn’t be this way… Regardless of the reasons, everyone from executives all the way down to entry-level managers and employees have enough “bureaucratic” burdens as it is. An…

Key Players for Successful Risk Identification

In order to have a risk management effort that ultimately “creates, protects, and enhances shareholder value,” you must first have a successful risk identification process. I’ve said it many times, and have heard it repeated elsewhere, that risk identification serves as the foundation for the entire risk management process…without it, the entire process is just…

4 Easy Ways to Ensure Management is Supportive and Actively Engaged in your ERM Program

When it comes to enterprise risk management, I have struggled with ways to engage management. After all, it is not like ERM is an exciting topic…at least for most people. Me, I love talking about ERM! Most executives or mid-level management focus their days on what they specialize in, whether it is finance, marketing, information…

Make Your Words Count: Translate Risk Terminology to Fit the Business

How many times have you presented risk information to leadership and watched them walk away with glazed eyes and no idea what was just discussed? Or worse yet, someone falls asleep like this: Okay – hopefully, it hasn’t been that bad. But speaking from experience, leaving a meeting with executives not understanding the presentation happened…