Steve Robinson from Rightstrategy is an educator at Gray Management Systems delivering a variety of accredited training courses including, Manage Business Risk, Facilitate Continuous Improvement, Manage Project Quality and Manage People Performance. Steve is our resident risk guru and strategy expert.
Not too long ago I observed a risk assessment for a nationally based consumable and logistics operation.
The executive team and some office-based participants were attempting to assess risks of operational activities.
It was interesting to observe this group attempting to identify and assess risks.
Whilst this initiative was commendable, and they were doing a good job following the company risk management process it lacked the valuable input of frontline workers.
Put simply, the team were guessing and had little knowledge of the controls in place and the effectiveness of those controls.
Clearly there was also some infringement against the risk management principles of ISO 31000 guidelines including that risk management must:
- Be inclusive;
- Be based on best available information; and
- Consider human and cultural factors.
This reminded me of the importance and need to properly determine all applicable stakeholders, assessing their needs and expectations, to better understand the power or influence that they have on the subject (whatever it is), to determine consultation and communication requirements and the level of management necessary for these stakeholders.
I have found that tools such as the interested parties’ analysis (stakeholders) can be useful in helping to properly determine the level of involvement and communication required for any organisational improvement activities.
You can download a copy of the interested parties’ analysis by heading to our Free Resources page and clicking on the box ‘Interested Parties’ Analysis Tool’.