HOW TO IMPROVE RISK MANAGEMENT SKILLS IN YOUR COMPANY

Risk management importance in business: Working in a new era

Why is risk management important for businesses? The world is transforming rapidly, and the business sector is not different. Information overload, false news, extreme connectivity and digital disruption are all creating new ecosystems. Technology, especially, is completely changing the way we work and interact, with automation becoming the new norm.

For the business landscape, this means taking sound decisions and managing change through flexibility. Following regulatory guidelines and ensuring that every employee is empowered to do so is imperative. Only then will sustainable risk management prevail in an era of hyper-information and digitisation.

In today’s era, risk management isn’t only limited to financial risks but also non-financial categories. You must have a holistic approach to forecast, evaluate, and mitigate risks for minimum impact. This is why it’s pivotal for organisations to adopt a risk management culture.

What you should include in risk management training

Because of an evolving market, the skillsets required for risk management are constantly changing. Companies need to bridge the skills gap and prepare managers of emerging risks such as data vulnerability. However, it is still important to ingrain the foundations of risk management. A mix of traditional and agile skill sets to predict and mitigate risks is ideal.

Improving technical skills

Technical and data literacy skills are essential for a managing risk. The propensity to assess, evaluate scenarios, and predict risk boils down to logic and reasoning. It isn’t only about collecting data but using it to make decisions during tough situations. Expert training in quantitive analysis can sharpen these skills.

To aid the process of analysis, there are several risk management software in the market. They are used by professionals to identify potential risks, find solutions, and abide by compliance procedures. Such software also suggests strategies to mitigate risks, run scenarios, and measure KPIs. They are an essential component of risk management training.

Garnering industry knowledge

With risk levels changing constantly, it’s a given that industry knowledge is a vital component in risk management training. This doesn’t mean that managers have to be on the lookout for regulatory changes every second. However, it’s important to keep up with the current trends and understand regulations. Setting regulatory guidelines and following through with compliance could be challenging at times for organisations, but they must be followed to protect digital information, company privacy, and employee safety.

Developing people skills

While the technical side of the coin is important in risk management, building people skills and organisational communication should get equal weightage. To ensure that departments are following risk management policies and regulatory compliance guidelines, it’s vital to communicate and build rapport with their respective heads.

The same holds for external stakeholders. The best managers use soft skills such as communication, critical thinking, and project management capabilities to mitigate risks deep within the organisation.

Training strategies: how to develop risk management skills

To ensure that your risk management training is effective, you can follow a set of tried-and-tested strategies. Developing a skill takes work in any organisation, and creating a culture of risk management will safeguard your company in the long run.

Training programs

Risk-related programs for existing managers of risk or executives across departments involve teaching them the best practices for managing risks, including injuries, cyber security threats, market fluctuations, financial uncertainty and beyond. You can organise workshops, seminars, courses, or external training by experts, which provide functional knowledge to your employees.

Accessible resources

To maintain a culture of risk management and mitigation, employees should have the right resources on hand. This includes online courses that they can turn to in times of need, especially those targeted towards specific industries. Moreover, whenever the company manages to overturn a risk, or even if a risk mitigation strategy fails, it’s vital to document the process and keep this knowledge within the organisation.

Hands-on learning

Learning through experience and problem-solving in the workplace will certainly help employees make better decisions. Analysing scenarios through numerous decision-related simulations can lead to various outcomes. Risk management software supports this, running multiple scenarios at once and finding solutions for the perfect outcome.

Performance evaluations

Risk management KPIs measure the performance of the manager, their team, and the organisation at large, ensuring that the policies that were put into place have been actioned successfully. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the risk reduces in numerous scenarios over time. They can also refer to compliance-guideline adherence and achieving sustainable outcomes.

Creating a risk-friendly culture

Employees don’t always keep risk management at the top of their minds. They need to be motivated to grow and learn, and your organisation should create a culture that supports this. It should begin with the onboarding process, where every recruit gets a thorough understanding of the regulatory compliance policies of your organisation. They can then be placed into mentorship programs with experienced managers to further their skills. Agility in a digital era is essential, and change management forms a pivotal part of the culture. Infuse flexibility in your culture through experiential training and feedback loops.

Mitigate and manage risks with DeakinCo.

Risks are inevitable, and instead of fearing them, it’s time to embrace them. Once you face risks head-on, you’ll find them easier to predict. Create a risk management culture as a part of your organisat through training and development. Remember, it takes a single important decision to ensure success.

Safeguard your organisation against risk and threats with the help of DeakinCo. experts. We offer bespoke learning solutions for your employees that can help them broaden their knowledge of risk management and its practical application. Get in touch with the team today.