The 1st Edition of IRM’s Magazine 2016

Welcome to our 2016 first issue the IRM Journal. Whether you are a bishop, teacher, policeman, doctor, engineer, accountant, lawyer, politician, businessman…, all professions and vocations included; Everyone is a risk manager. So, everyone must understand the risks inherent in what they are doing and manage them. Otherwise it is not a question of “if?” it is a question of “when?”

Sample this:

A patient goes to a hospital complaining of shoulder pain. She informs the doctor that she is on pain medication. The doctor sedates her and proceeds to fondle her breasts and kiss her while she is sedated. The patient sues the doctor for sexual harassment, and the hospital for negligence and failing to enforce ethical policies?

A couple books into a hotel for a weekend. On the first night, the couple wakes up to answer a phone call. On turning on the lights, they see something running across the pillow. They immediately notice red swellings on their arms and faces. Instinctively, they pull back a pillow and hundreds of bed bugs scary away under the mattress. They call the reception to complain and the receptionist replies, “Sorry it’s a small problem. We have bed bugs everywhere at night.” 

An organisation is voted by industry analysts as the “Best Company to Work For” in the country among the large corporations. A few months down the line, it is put under statutory management.

The perspectives of potential risky omissions and commissions on the part of employees and organisations are endless. The critical thing is that we must all be asking ourselves, “What can go wrong? And if it goes wrong, how will I handle it, so that I still achieve my initial objective?”

The challenge for most of us who say we are managing risk is that we know what it is that we are doing to manage risk. But we rarely tie what we are doing to manage risk with the assurance that our objective in doing what we are doing will still be achieved. We are not talking of the end justifying the means. Far from it, and that should never be a risk managers modus operandi. Effective risk management is simply an assurance that if things change contrary to our expectations, we have a plan B. If plan B fails, we have a plan C. If plan C fails we have a D…, and in the end, we will achieve our initial objective if not exceed it.

Wishful thinking, you may say. But that is what distinguishes an effective risk manager and a speculative manager. It has been done, it is being done, and IRM will build the skills and competencies in our members to assure that for us, it will be a way of life.

Editor