Operational Risk Management

As an organization is forced beyond its comfort zone of high frequency low risk activity, its foundation of procedures and the quality of its planning will determine recoverability. When situations reach catastrophic, emergency management procedures are in effect. During these conditions the objective is survival over prosperity and a deliberate transition of control to an incident command organization should be anticipated.

Optimal risk reduction, especially for human factors, comes from diligent preparedness with relevant policies, comprehensive procedures, and disciplined behaviors. Redundant checks and balances for essential and critical tasks with responsive feedback loops for non-conforming activity are paramount. Know what is vital, be sure of your capabilities, strive to increase self-reliance, but know when and whom to ask for assistance then facilitate transition of incident control. Only enlightened leadership can move an enterprise beyond mediocre management effectiveness. When the full extent and potential of the organization is consistently accessed, vigilance need not be exhaustive nor preparedness burdensome and return on effort is resiliency providing agility, competitiveness, and profitability.

Effective decision-support requires accurate information and competent analysis that values multi-source corroboration and understands that annual reports are, to a certain extent, marketing propaganda and may not reveal all significant intentions. Convenient information should be suspect as should CI vendor products. Once there is confidence for understanding of the Strategic Goal, the remainder falls into place with the three key questions.