Grant Purdy helped write the e book on danger administration – actually. He co-authored ISO 31000, the worldwide commonplace everybody follows. After 50 years within the area, he’s saying one thing uncomfortable: we obtained it unsuitable.
Right here’s what he means. Stroll into most corporations and also you’ll discover danger registers no person reads, warmth maps that annoy everybody, and processes that measure every little thing besides what really issues for enterprise choices. The entire system was supposed to assist individuals make higher selections when issues are unsure. As a substitute, it grew to become a compliance monster that eats money and time whereas creating faux confidence.
How we ended up right here
It occurred slowly. Each new regulation and “greatest observe” piled on high of what got here earlier than. We stored inventing options to repair issues our earlier options created. Purdy watched it occur from the within – helpful instruments changed into paperwork necessities, determination assist grew to become regulatory theater. What we promised and what we really delivered drifted additional aside.
The core downside is easy: there are two fully completely different video games being performed. One is about creating paperwork to fulfill exterior necessities. The opposite is about really serving to individuals talk about uncertainty when making actual enterprise choices. These serve completely different masters – regulators versus the individuals who really run issues. Most corporations obtained caught within the first recreation and forgot in regards to the second.
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Why this issues
Not many individuals can take a look at their life’s work and say “we have been unsuitable.” That’s what makes Purdy’s message hit arduous. He’s not some outdoors critic – he’s the man who constructed the home and is now saying some partitions want to come back down.
His repair is easy however requires a mindset shift. Cease saying “danger administration” and begin saying “determination assist.” As a substitute of danger registers for reporting, assist individuals make particular selections – what to launch, what to delay, the place so as to add security margins, what to spend cash on.
What this implies for you
First, you possibly can cease pretending a stack of paperwork equals managing uncertainty. Second, deliver conversations again to precise choices – what are our choices, what assumptions are we making, what breaks if the world doesn’t behave like we anticipate? Third, make instruments that folks really need to use – fast determination notes as a substitute of infinite registers, “what if” eventualities as a substitute of colourful warmth maps, easy response guidelines as a substitute of thick methodology manuals.
The toughest half is breaking outdated habits. However there’s freedom in stopping the performative busy work and specializing in what really modifications outcomes. That’s the reward in Purdy’s honesty – permission to stop taking part in “correct danger administration” and do what we got down to do within the first place: assist individuals make higher choices when going through uncertainty.
Admitting we obtained issues unsuitable isn’t defeat – it’s a recent begin. Danger administration can lastly do what it all the time promised: not create faux management, however assist individuals select higher.
Grant Purdy’s session “We Received It All Mistaken” is at RAW 2025, October 13-17. Full program at https://2025.riskawarenessweek.com
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