CERM® Risk Insights

Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

We live in a world of consequences.  Everything that we experience is a consequence of some action, decision, reaction and/or choice.  For organizations, the consequences of a choice, action, decision and/or reaction can cascade throughout the organization and extend to its “Value Chain” rippling through all the known touchpoints and the as yet, unidentified touchpoints.

Organizations need to understand their strategic, operational and tactical capabilities and capacity to recognize, mitigate and/or capitalize on cascade effects.  As a result of the diverse nature of global business operations, geopolitical circumstances, culture, etc., there currently is a standardization gap with regard to how organizations should react to cascade effects.  This is partly due to opacity, nonlinearity and insufficient competitive/business intelligence that organizations can draw from.  This is not to say that the information does not exist.  Rather that it does not exist in a form that is readily recognizable to organizations in most cases. [Read more…]

Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The focus of this article is on the application of guidance (ISO 31000, FFIEC, etc.) often resulting in the appearance of compliance resulting from a checkbox perspective rather than actually and actively identifying and managing risk(s) by organizations.

In Risk Management: History, Definition and Critique, by Georges Dionne (March 2013 – CIRRELT-2013-17); the opening statement from the Abstract is revealing: [Read more…]

Some 20 years ago, I was volunteering with a not-for-profit organization to develop new products and services.

Our team had lots of ideas. We were excited to innovate, change, add value, and do better. You could feel the energy. It was electric.

The challenge: The organization was riding high and making lots of money on its core products. They did not want or did not need to look at anything new. Why fix something that was not broken from its point of view. OK. We got it. 

Well, our great ideas were stuffed. The energy and enthusiasm dissipated. I left the organization.

Several of us wondered what had happened. Dr. Lindborg, an expert in organizational dynamics, in a moment of inspiration, uttered:

This is the Moose Lodge Syndrome at work.

“What’s that?” we said. A little history may help: [Read more…]

VUCA is an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity.  VUCA is the driver of most disruption in business.

I believe we live in VUCA time.  And, VUCA is changing how business is done: [Read more…]

“One Thing is Certain: 2017 Will Be the Year of Uncertainty for CEO’s’”

Shouted a recent Wall Street Journal article.[1]

Why?

Let’s look at the reasons at why we live in VUCA time (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity).

• President Trump is disrupting business rules and business models.
• Technological change is increasing.
• Mass immigration is resulting in political divisions.
• Climate change is real and increasing.
• Globalization benefits are unclear due to job and work transference.

[Read more…]

Many CRO’s come from compliance, legal, or finance areas.  They do not know operations or quality.  This person is critical to quality‘s success with ISO 9001:2015 in terms of providing risk approvals, direction, and resources.  The quality department should be flexible and work with the CRO, specifically: [Read more…]