Risk Managers are retiring. Corporations have to fight the brain drain or be faced with over-exposures to risks.

Risk Managers are retiring. Corporations have to fight the brain drain or be faced with over-exposures to risks. Because the retirement of a corporate risk manager might be the source of critical exposures. It is actually a significant risk per se: one with a high likelihood (everyone ends-up retiring), and potentially large consequences. Only well planned proactive actions can mitigate it. Indeed Risk Managers are retiring. Corporations have to fight the brain drain or face over-exposures to risks.

Risk Managers are retiring. Corporations have to fight the brain drain or be faced with over-exposures to risks.

As a matter of fact, if nothing prevents this drain, risk managers will often take knowledge and on-the-job skill-set home with them, including precious historical knowledge of the job. That loss will compound with  “replacements” mistrust. For everone may consider them “unknown new-comers”. Furthermore, the overall corporate “experience level” will go down, as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that between 2010 and 2020 there will be a total of 54.8 million job openings, over 60% of which due to retirements or people permanently leaving the workforce.

Smart companies start planning well in advance of any key person’s departure. However one is left to wonder if the “great crew change” is the opportunity to enhance corporate risk management systems once and for all.

In nowadays competitive corporate environment companies want someone to walk in the door and jump right in with minimal guidance and training. Because of that need, documentation, knowledge and the basis for prior decision making should be clear and transparent. Not a single ERM Risk Record we have seen to date has those characteristics. Not even the spiffy ones based on smart looking ERM/RA softwares.

The very nature of indexed Probabilities Impact Graphs (PIGs risk matrix) will make the task of the coming generation even harder. We are referring to semi-quantitative evaluation, poor understanding of consequences and finally, the misleading results brought in by PIGs.

Their chances of failure are very high, and no one can blame them.

Riskope’s ORE (Optimum Risk Estimates) has the power to make life a lot easier to the coming generation

Riskope’s ORE (Optimum Risk Estimates) has the power to make life a lot easier to the coming generation. Its deployment should occur immediately to ensure that “stories from the trenches” do not fall in oblivion.

ORE, once deployed, offers a clear vision of how the business works. The resulting risk landscape becomes clear. ORE facilitates open and transparent discussions on the evolution of both the business and its risks. ORE allows to capture the knowledge of key people about to retire by preventive and gradual “brain dumping”. In the meantime ORE becomes a knowledge-sharing system which clarifies how to make decisions now and in the future. This is something that rarely exists in the industries world-wide.

Qualitative approximations, behavioral biases and related “intuitive feelings” dominate the world.

Finally, ORE will allow businesses around the world to prosper with the new generation of Risk Managers while embracing rational uncertainties.

The King is dead. Long live the King!

Tagged with: coming generation, critical exposures, proactive actions, retirement, risk manager, transparent discussions, workforce

Category: Consequences, Hazard, Mitigations, Optimum Risk Estimates, Risk analysis, Risk management