The 360 – End to End Enterprise Risk Posturing!
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‘If anything can go wrong – IT WILL – and at the worst possible time’ goes Murphy’s Law. This was proved for its umpteenth time in a premier corporate in Colombo recently, when a tested application failed dejectedly right at the launching platform. What was confirmed as textbook perfect six hours before – proved to be undeniably imperfect in the public eye at the most craved moment.
Enterprises – similar to life – often do carry dewdrop vulnerabilities, even though we hardly wish to view those in that chilling perspective. Sometimes it is our over-confidence and other times it is our sluggish unawareness that leads us to mistreat the risk factors that may suddenly erupt out of the blue – just like unseen volcanoes. It is said that divine benediction reaches the human mind in a rare form called – wisdom. Be it a brand new enterprise takeoff, expansion, diversification, merger or acquisition – embarking on the holistic risk wisdom plays a vital role in enterprise sustainability.
Conceptual Sphere
Sometimes, we tend to get hyper at the bottom-line prospects alone and hurriedly make enterprise concepts without taking underneath risk layers into consideration. Thus, we miscue the futuristic perils and impasses that can roll in slowly – but surely. It’s only after launching the concepts that we realise the risks that are associated with the business concept itself, but we failed to treat those at the right time. This is a primary reason why conceptualists and corporate planners at the top should descend the stairs to grasp the multi-layer ground realities and associated risks that are current and also futuristic – in order to see the enterprising concept lives through its full life span.
Strategic Sphere
In a nutshell, strategic planning is tagging the logic to wisdom. Most of us do it right at the standard business deliberations. For instance when our concept dictates us the conveyance from point A to B – the strategy defines the modus of operandi, and most of us do it competently.
Perhaps unconsciously, when our enterprise strategic planning is confined to typical thought box, invariably we slip away from the bad weather contemplations. Thus, once the draft strategy is constructed, it becomes critical to critique your own formulation with – ‘out of the box risk bombardment’ to be sure of the climatic robustness of the strategy.
Procedural Sphere
Once the enterprising concept and the strategy are made to be risk sturdy, the next challenge is to incorporate risk robustness to the operating protocols at each portfolio level across the organisation.
The procedural domain of business critical portfolios of each department of the organisation, need to be fortified by blocking the risk gaps in the operating technicalities.
Unless an enterprise conducts an end to end procedural risk identification drive, chances are that certain non-shiny yet business critical protocols could be flawed in silence – only to be exposed when it is regrettably too late.
Application Sphere
Successful and meaningful risk culturing of an enterprise happens when the frontline operation of each business process – be it administrative – technical – support services or commercial is PRACTISING risk mitigation actions day in and day out. Though difficult as it is seen, it is essential that the risk managing presentations at stakeholder gatherings and risk managing illustrations in vivid annual reports are well supported by the front line risk managing – no matter how insignificant they seem to be at a superficial glance. History proves us that undue risks embracing by corporates have come by way of non-conformities at application strata – often by the front liners. The reasons could be non-inclusion of escalation prone risks, unawareness or operating deviations by which the crept in risks ended up causing colossal losses.
Sometimes, we see enterprises that spend millions in reputation and branding initiatives with right brand risk planning. Yet, when we are made to see a shabbily dressed janitorial staff member with a broken utility tool in hand at the classy entrance of the corporate, one does not have to be a genius to fathom that there is something radically wrong at the application contour.When we generalise this modest example across the organisation, applying its factual essence for all frontline operations, it indeed supports the conceptual, strategic and procedural layers to be more meaningful and eloquent.
“When the map and the territory don’t agree, always believe the territory” – goes a saying. Thus, get your territory right and work upward. You can hardly go wrong!(The writer is a foremost enterprise risk management specialist and a corporate risk trainer who serves as the CEO of Strategic Risk Solutions. He can be reached via eMail on solutions@sltnet.lk)