Whac-A-Mole: A guide to Risk Management
In our monthly blog ‘Deconstructing Change‘ our internal change experts, Rachael Hays and Gayle Lui, look at all things change and transformation. In this edition Gayle discusses projects, risks and why walking in with your eyes open and armed with your Whac-A-Mole hammer gives you an opportunity. Enjoy!
We recently were fortunate enough to have a team social where we visited a “grown up” arcade and got to compete against each other in a variety of classic pier type games. Much fun was had by all, and it was interesting to see the surprising levels of competitiveness that came out!
The game that really seemed to galvanise most of the team was Whac-A-Mole… you knew the little critters were coming, but you had to wait until their little heads popped up before you could whack them down again. Hugely satisfying when you made contact, massively frustrating when they popped away unscathed. We were joking that the game had a lot of connotations with work life, especially Risk Management in the Project Management context.
So, I present Whac-A-Mole: A Guide to Risk Management:
You know there are risks out there aka “The Moles” and you have a number of options in your arsenal to mitigate them aka “The Hammer”.
Risk Avoidance
You can simply not play the game. Or in more business speak, take action to avoid that little mole popping up. This could be sticking with a known provider (with proven track record) and not venturing into the unknown with a new vendor. Or it could be choosing an out of the box solution instead of developing something new and bespoke. Some might say this is the safer path yet might stifle the opportunity for innovation and unthought of benefits.
Risk Reduction
Think of ways to minimise the impact or likelihood of the risk occurring. Tricky in the Whac-A-Mole world, but a business approach might be breaking a project down into smaller milestones. Allowing everything to be closely managed and assessed before moving on. That way you don’t get caught out by something building into a massive problem before its spotted.
Risk Transfer
In Whac-A-Mole world, you could get a friend / colleague to take responsibility for half the holes. In business world, ensuring the risk is contractually held by another party so that they take responsibility and accountability if the risk occurs. It’s crucial that all parties understand where risk ownership lies and what needs to happen if/when the risk occurs.
Risk Acceptance
Those little critters are just going to pop up, you know you’re not going to catch them all so don’t try to. Only focus on the high scoring items and don’t let yourself be distracted by the lesser ones. Risk acceptance can feel like giving in, however, it is an essential business decision that allows resources to be focused and not spread too thin.
There are lots of options to manage and mitigate risks, an important first step is a shared Risk Register which enables all relevant parties to collaborate. Use the Risk Register to:
- Identify risks
- Quantify risks (likelihood x impact)
- Identify risk owners (and make sure they are taking ownership)
- Agree an appropriate risk mitigation plan
- Actively manage risks.
A common mistake is populating a risk register and then failing to review it regularly – just because it’s in a risk register doesn’t mean the risk is prevented! Making Risk Management a regular part of your project governance is essential to ensure that your risk exposure hasn’t changed, and that the plans you have in place are still sufficient.
Some might say, why do a project if it has risks? Well, staying still as a Business is just as risky as embarking on a new project. Businesses need to adapt to survive; a well-run project with effectively managed risks could open up new markets, increase efficiencies, diversify the supply chain or enable a multitude of strategic opportunities. Walking in with your eyes open, armed with your Whac-A-Mole hammer, gives you the opportunity to tackle those risks and hopefully score big!
If you would like to talk more about an upcoming project and how Definia can help you, reach out to the team today.
