Smart Risk Management

8

Step Five—Recover From the Negative Results

Risk Happens!

After reading this chapter, you should

• understand how a contingency plan works.

• be able to prepare a pitfall analysis.

• be able to develop a lessons learned programme for your team or company.

• recognise and explain the importance of the risk management audit.

Despite our best planning, anticipating, and analysis, there will always be things that we cannot anticipate, or our implementation goes awry, or we make human errors in judgement. Yes, even leaders can be wrong.

An imperative in your risk management plan is created when employees within your organisation have a specific methodology for recovering quickly from a negative result. The important element in this step is to make sure that you hone your recovery skills on the small lapses.

For example, say that you get the itch to run a marathon. You are not a runner and have never run one before. Instead of going out and immediately trying to run 42 kilometres, health experts will tell you that you prepare by taking small steps. Your first task is walking and setting a milestone of being able to walk two hours without stopping. Next you alternate walking and jogging until you can go a kilometre without stopping. Your next task is to build up stamina until you can run that kilometre without walking. When you are comfortable with a kilometre, you extend it to two kilometres and then three. You continue with these smaller goals until you are able to run more than 42 kilometres ...