Brett Palmer contributes to Economist Impact report on out-of-sight risks

ABM Risk Partner Brett Palmer has contributed to a major piece of research around out-of-sight risks in Asia-Pacific that has been published by Economist Impact.

FM is well known for its world-leading research into risk, and it was great to have the opportunity to contribute to this Economist Impact piece. It dives into details of out of sight risks in the Asia-Pacific Region. As the article suggests, and most of us would agree, what you do not see can still harm you.

There is a lot of good detail here, but for me the following stand out:

• Risk Management never stops, much the same as the Finance, Legal, HR (etc) functions. It's not a project. Nor is it a compliance activity!

• Change is constant, as is the need to review changes in context that flow through to your identified and analysed risks. You don't want to discover a risk has changed only when it becomes an incident. Risk reviews should not be point in time, the frequency should be driven by the risk rating.

• The key role of Risk Management is to help organisations take risks by understanding them and having confidence in the effectiveness of controls. From risk comes opportunity.

• Analysis of risks requires you to consult widely to ensure your risks are well understood - don't let bias compromise the effectiveness of organisational Risk Management

• Establish risk-based decision making in the key decisions across your organisation

• Risk is largely about allocation of scarce resources; focus on the risks that matter

Effective Risk Management often comes down to culture, leadership, and maturity. If challenges to the accuracy of the risk details and / or effectiveness of controls are discouraged, you've likely got a poor risk culture.

Throughout the article there is much to suggest some level of confusion in Risk Management roles at Line 1 and Line 2. Risk's role isn't to be the expert on all the risks - that's the role of the business - the Risk Owners.

The article highlights numerous areas where organisations can achieve improvement in effectiveness and maturity. It’s all achievable with the right leadership.

If you'd like to discuss the article, or any of the challenges it raises, I'd love to hear from you.

Read the full Asia-Pacific report here and the Australia article on the topic here