OVERARCHING policies and regular assessments by specialists are all very well, but good risk management means that everyone in the organisation should be involved. Here’s how to create a workplace environment that supports this.

1. Tell people that learning to get it right is important. “Risk management is about managing the barriers to achieving the organisation’s objectives,” says Malcolm Davies, the head of risk management and insurance at Croydon council. “It’s fundamental.” Most people take a “common sense” approach but this is not enough, says Ben Brownlee, a director at Hitachi Consulting. “They say ‘I’m pretty sure that I know the risks’ but what they don’t do is look at the different scenarios out there and apply them.”

2. Know what you're dealing with. “You need to understand the organisation, its structure and core values,” says Jan Collins, the corporate risk manager at Swindon Borough Council.

3. Know who matters.“When you are trying to build a culture of risk management you need to know who the key decision-makers are and who can influence others on your behalf,” Collins says. You’ll need senior management onside, obviously, but most organisations also have people who wield more influence than their job titles suggest – find these people, win them over and they will make a significant contribution.

4. Understand how others work. Frontline staff in one department will have different work practices to senior managers in another, meaning there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. “When you understand how people work and how that fits in with the corporate style you can use that to change the culture,” Collins says. “Be flexible and adaptable.”

5. Explain yourself. “Be seen and heard and stand by what you are saying,” Collins says. This may mean attending senior management meetings as well as other meetings outside your department. “You should run discussion sessions with as wide an audience as possible,” Davies says.

6. Listen. Frontline staff are your early warning system – they can let you know the moment a project starts to fall behind. However, this works only if they feel confident that they can raise concerns without being blamed for them.

7. Highlight what's in it for them. Show line managers that understanding risk will enable them to do their jobs better. “They could gain a better reputation, they could save lives, they can maximise their resources and allocate them more effectively,” Collins says.

8. Make it their job. Officially, that is. “Build responsibility for risk management into their job descriptions,” Brownlee says. “It shouldn't be an add-on.”

9. It's not about no. Some staff may think that risk management means not trying anything new in case it goes wrong, but it’s not, Davies says. “It’s not about always telling people not to do things but encouraging people to assess risk properly.”

10. Keep it up. Risk management is an ongoing process. Formal training can be useful, but it needs to be followed up with ongoing work; Brownlee suggests peer reviews and putting it on the agenda for team meetings.

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