Common Risk Ailment: Risk Management Depression

For many organizations, much of their risk-taking is embodied in the projects they perform. The medical metaphor can be helpful to explain recurrent issues, using a recognized medical condition to shed light on a difficulty that causes people to be ineffective in the way they manage risk. By drawing parallels between the medical condition and the risk management problem, I explore why it matters and how it can be addressed.

Risk Depression
Risk management should address both good and bad risks, preferably in an integrated process. Despite this fact, many organizations ignore upside opportunity risk and focus exclusively on downside threat risks. This negative monomania is the underlying cause of risk depression. Left untreated, risk depression can result in the ultimate failure of projects and businesses. Fortunately, risk depression is fairly easy to treat. Investing time and effort in finding and capturing positive risks will pay off in many ways, maximizing the likelihood of achieving objectives and increasing motivation as more opportunities are turned into benefits. Watch the video below to learn more.