The role of leadership and commitment in supporting risk management
Welcome to Season 2 of ‘Off the Menu’. The focus of Episode 2 is unpacking the role and importance of leadership and commitment to supporting robust risk management practices. Tune in to listen to Peter and I talk about the – what, why and how of leadership and commitment. We also discuss:
- The importance of leadership and how that relates to section 5.2 of ISO 31000
- How to demonstrate leadership and management commitment in your business
- Thinking about problems in business
- Top-down approach to risk management success (not bottom-up)
- Good and bad examples of a committed leadership
- Developing your organisational policy
- Allocating resources to support risk management
- Resource accountability, responsibility and accountability
- Plan-Do-Check-Act
- The RACI Model
- The risk perspective of external stakeholders
Adapted Podcast Transcription
The following information provides the key concepts that both Pete and I spoke about in this podcast. Our conversation was inspired from an article that Peter published called “Leadership and Commitment in the context of the Risk Management Framework”.
The Role of Leadership
One of the most important roles that leadership can take on is by developing a solid and consistent commitment to good risk management practices. Leadership is important because it is charged with writing and directing the policy of risk. This means determining what does ‘risk’ look like in the organisation.
Demonstrating commitment
It is one thing for management to say they’re committed to good risk management practices, actually doing so is a totally different matter. Leadership and commitment can be demonstrated by allocating resources. These include:
- Human capital: Providing sufficient people to get the task done
- Time: Providing enough time to effectively develop, implement and complete tasks
- Finances: Nothing comes for free! Adequate financial resources and capital assets are required for all projects and compliance initiatives to succeed
Food Safety and Quality Policy
When top management designs these statements and policies, they should also be appropriately assigning authority, responsibility and accountability to all team members. Naturally, this acts as a tool which can help ensure that risk is effectively being managed throughout your organisation, not just at the top level. It can be especially helpful to work collaboratively with these people to garner feedback as part of your commitment to continually improving your risk management practices.
The RACI Matrix
The RACI acronym stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. For any policy, procedure or practice, there could be multiple people that have one of the RACI activities assigned to them. RACI is a really helpful tool especially if you are trying to implement or maintain a process in your business. You can start using this matrix by asking the following questions for each process in your business:
- Who is responsible for getting the process done?
- Who is accountable to getting it done?
- Who has been consulted to make sure that the process can be done?
- Who needs to be informed about the outcomes?
To learn more about the RACI model just google “RACI model” or “RACI responsibility matrix”
To read the full article on “Leadership and Commitment in the context of the Risk Management Framework” please click here.
About Off the Menu - Season 2
Risk is inherent in almost everything we do. Risk taking can make us uneasy, or for some, being comfortable with taking risks, can be incredibly empowering. Join Amanda Evans-Lara and Peter Holtmann for Season 2 of Off the Menu as they explore risk management and how it relates to your business.
