Managing Risk and Performance: A Guide for Government Decision Makers

Chapter 13

Effective Enterprise Risk Management: Mapping the Path Forward

Douglas Webster

CEO, Cambio Consulting Group

The reader will certainly understand—without ever having opened the covers of this book—that risks are present in government agencies and programs. The need for risk management in those government agencies and programs is thus a foregone conclusion. The authors hope to have encouraged throughout this book both the recognition of the special challenges facing those seeking to manage risk in federal agencies as well as the vast array of tools, best practices, and lessons learned available to those who would manage such risks.

The authors also collectively hope that this book is more than simply an opportunity to share thoughts and knowledge. As one of very few books written on Enterprise Risk Management in the public sector, and certainly the first such book aimed at the U.S. federal government, we view this as an opportunity to influence the understanding, acceptance, and adoption of a recognized best practice, thereby benefiting all stakeholders hoping to see a more cost-effective government.

While government is clearly not unique in its need to manage risk, in some ways it does have unique responsibilities for managing risk that could easily impact millions of its citizens. Given this particularly important role of risk management in federal agencies, it is worthwhile to consider what a government risk management program would ideally look like. What needs to ...