Today, risk management is one of the highest-priority professions. If you think you are going to make a career out of just calculating numbers, you are wrong. This is not just a career that you can do in a day. You must present yourself with dignity, understand and work with all departments of the company, building relationships along the way. Overnight, a career in risk management has grown into one of the most important professions in the world, and that is no understatement.
The people who work in the risk management department have the following responsibilities:
- Minimization of financial and other losses of the company in which the specialist works.
- Conducting work to identify threats of financial and other losses.
- Search for sources of risks through an audit, analysis of decisions made by top management, and work with reporting documentation.
- Analysis of assigned risks, development, and subsequent work with risk maps and other methodological documentation.
- Daily monitoring, analysis of the causes of occurrence, fixation of risks, and organization of the management process.
- Performing calculations and evaluating the risk management methods used.
- Keeping records and storing documents in a personal working archive.
- Control over the fulfillment of assigned tasks.
- Methodological support of employees and senior management.
Risk managers make up strategies that conduct research, identify and control various risks, and help companies avoid severe economic and reputational losses. Specialists allow you to maintain the profitability and efficiency of business processes in any situation. In 2021, the career guidance center ProfGuide created a reliable career guidance test. He will tell you what vocations are best for you and give you his judgment on your personality type and IQ.
Risk is a situation of uncertainty that can make the company vulnerable to different market circumstances.
For this reason, here are the following tips to become a successful risk manager.
Risk identification
First, the manager must identify which risks may affect the company.
For this, you must analyze historical data and detect situations of uncertainty that, at the time, became risks for the profitability of the business.
In addition, you must assess the current context by using powerful tools such as SWOT analysis, interviews, Delphi technique, and brainstorming.
Qualitative analysis
This type of analysis is performed as a filter to detect the risks that need to be addressed through a more delicate, complex, and advanced study.
Therefore, this is a subjective classification stage whose results are captured in the risk assessment matrix, serving as objects of study in the next step.
Quantitative analysis
At this stage of the risk management plan, it is possible to investigate the probability of occurrence of the risks and estimate their consequences for the company.
After mapping the potential risks, you should first select them and establish an order of priority, considering that not all bets must be controlled, mitigated, or eliminated.
Probability: Each risk has a certain chance that it materializes. You can follow a quantitative (database) or qualitative line to calculate it. To order them, it is necessary to consider the following variables:
Impact: There is a dimension of the effects of each risk caused by its materialization. Its calculation requires the analysis of historical data. In some cases, it may be necessary to conduct a qualitative study – due to a lack of numerical data.
The risk criticality indicator is defined by multiplying the absolute values of probability and impact. The higher the value, the more critical the risk.
The Decision Tree and the Monte Carlo Simulator are other equally exciting tools for prioritizing risks.
Once the risks have been detected and their priority established, it is time to plan the responses.
Planning response strategies
After completing the previous stage, the manager must establish action plans and plan response strategies to deal with each threat.
In this sense, the action plans allow the manager to focus on prevention, thus avoiding the appearance of risks. For their part, response strategies make it possible to minimize the effects of the materialization of the risk.
Finally, it is essential to control the execution of the plans and the performance of the risks.
Monitoring
The effective control of plans and risks requires the creation of reports, development of procedures and policies, implementation of control and monitoring mechanisms, and the definition of performance indicators (KPIs).
As for the latter, when properly defined, they can provide reliable data and information for decision-making.
After following all the steps and monitoring the risks regularly, your company will begin to reap the rewards of efficient risk management.
For this to happen, you must align the administration with the objectives and the company’s strategic planning. When this level of excellence is achieved, you can turn risk management into a tremendous source of business opportunity.