Fundamentals of Risk Management

Risk practitioner competencies
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a report to the board that is requiring a decision and/or authorization to take a specific 
course of action. The expression ‘know your audience and their expectations’ is vitally 
important when the audience is the board of the organization.
When communicating a message, it is useful to think about the ‘5Cs’ of commu-
nication. The message should be clear, concise, coherent, credible and complete:
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clear message will ensure that the recipient understands your purpose in 
communicating with them;
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concise message is more likely to be received because you have stuck to the 
point and kept it brief;
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coherent message is logical with all the points being connected and relevant 
to the main topic;
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credible message will convince the audience that you understand their 
concerns and priorities;
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complete message provides the audience with everything they need in order to 
take necessary action.
Relationship skills
There is a range of relationship skills that are required, as indicated in Table 27.2. 
Perhaps the most important are influencing and negotiating skills. Relationship skills 
are important, including motivation and political skills. As with other people skills, 
relationship skills need to be exercised within the culture of the organization and in 
a way that pays full regard to its internal context.
Relationship skills also include listening skills. It is vitally important to listen to 
the point of view of an individual you are negotiating with or are seeking to influence. 
Generally speaking, influence is achieved by using positive energy and enthusiasm 
about the issues that need to be changed.
Successful influencing is best achieved by individuals who have the ability to gain 
support, inspire others, create relationships and engage the imaginations of other people. 
Achieving improvements in risk management standards often requires continuous 
negotiation. The means of achieving successful negotiations are well established, and 
risk practitioners need to be aware of and embrace negotiating techniques.
Political skills can often be difficult and the subject sounds quite sinister. Neverthe-
less, in being a good influence, the successful risk practitioner needs to understand 
the importance of political skills. All organizations have challenging individuals
who display inappropriate behaviours. The risk practitioner will need to understand 
group dynamics and be able to defuse conflict and negotiate solutions in a flexible 
way. Political skills include awareness of cultural influences and differing stakeholder 
requirements.
In many ways, political skills are at their most important when the risk practi-
tioner is chairing a meeting. All persons attending the meeting are entitled to voice 
their opinion in full, for as long as their message is clear, concise, coherent and credible. 
The role of a chairman, especially when present in a non-executive role is to stay 
neutral and remain unbiased whilst guiding the meeting to an appropriate consensus.

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