How often have you been asked as a Risk Manager we need a Risk Management Plan (RMP), Yesterday? How many team members in the project team actually take the time to read the RMP? How many team members actually provide input or feedback usually not until after it has been published.
Depending on your industry RMP can mean different things. One industry lists dates of when a process or procedure will be reviewed, another lists roles or criteria and yet another is just a list of risks that become stale by the time the plan is published.
According to PMI’s Practice Standard for Project Risk Management the RMP may have some of the following elements but it will also depend on the complexity of the project, project team members and customer. Elements may include:
- Project Description
- Risk Management Methodology & Organization
- Roles & Responsibilities
- Stakeholder Risk Tolerance
- Criteria
- Tools & Guidelines
- Thresholds
- Templates
At the end of the day what matters most is that the project team understand and can execute to what has been written in the RMP.
I was involved in a project where the RMP was so robust and impressive that the team would show case the plan to the customer and other project managers. But when an internal auditor actually read the fine print, we had set ourselves up for multiple findings. In the RMP we had stated that we would update weekly and provide reports to customers in a frequency that the team was not prepared for. That all risks would have an assigned risk owners and plan no matter if it was a high or low risk or if it was still under development. Also multiple team members signed off on the plan but again failed to understand their role and their deliverables in order to make the plan successful (basically, they did not read it and just signed the plan cause it was going to be late).
The RMP is the starting point to a successful and sustainable Risk Management Program. The RMP provides guidelines, establishes the roles and responsibilities of the team members. Risk Management can not be done in a vacuum (just the Risk Manager). It takes proactive action and forward thinking.
TAKE PROACTIVE STEPS TO SAFEGUARD YOUR BUSINESS FROM CERTAIN DISRUPTION
Contact us for a free consultation relating to Project Risk Management execution and let us know how we can serve your business. nighthawkenterprisesllc@gmail.com
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