project management Archives

How to Ensure Risks to Initiatives are Being Considered Alongside Objectives

A reader sent me a question about identifying risks to initiatives… More specifically, the reader wanted to know how she could ensure that risk identification focused on objectives doesn’t lose sight of risks that may be associated with initiatives. Before going any further, I want to provide a couple of quick definitions: Objectives – a…

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…

GDPR Compliance Exposes Huge Interdependencies within Organizations

Now that some of the heat has died down on this topic, I thought it would be a good time to discuss observations about GDPR from an ERM perspective. Last month, the General Data Privacy Regulation from the EU was a hot topic. You undoubtedly received emails from your subscriptions and apps explaining that new…

3 Steps to Building an Effective KRI System Today

If your executives and managers love metrics, then they’re sure to use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Even if they don’t like numbers, any smart executive will be reviewing their KPIs dashboard. These historical measures are designed to gauge performance to ensure goals and milestones are being met. As risk professionals, though, we know the value…

Taking ERM to the Next Level: Adding Value to Projects and Processes

The last two weeks have been focused on how you can free up existing ERM resources, either by resource allocation or revamping your risk assessment process. Now you can allocate those resources to better understand your enterprise risks and to create action plans and lower high risks to acceptable levels. Once you’ve completed those activities,…

Three Ways to Reduce Organizational Change Risk

Organizational change is something we experience and hear about all the time. Don’t you get tired of change? Goodness knows, I do! How many times has an organizational change, like a merger, acquisition, internal reorganization, or market expansion, not succeeded? Too many times to count. In fact, a CEB 2016 Workforce Change survey showed that…

4 Ways ERM Can Add Value During the Project Lifecycle

A Risky Upgrade Sometimes the simple projects are the ones that carry the most risk. A few years ago, a large organization undertook a project to upgrade its HR software. Since the upgrade was to be handled as part of a renewal of an existing contract, the Sponsor and executives considered it a necessary project…

3 Best Practices for Factoring Risk into Your Strategic Planning Process

No one enjoys strategic planning exercises. They conjure images of a stuffy room filled with executives in dark suits, stacks of paper strewn across the table, and whiteboards covered in scribble. Even in the most collaborative organizations, each executive represents his own department as he vies for the few dollars set aside for yearly projects.…