Uncertainty is a certainty of doing business.

Risk-taking is an inevitable step in any business journey. But knowing how to effectively manage those risks is essential for ensuring a business' success.

Risk refers to any uncertainty a business faces that may affect its profits, reputation, goals or ability to operate. The definition of risk management is the process of identifying threats before they occur, taking steps to minimize those threats and coming up with a plan for how to respond to these issues if they do happen.

The role of risk management planning is to determine how your business will handle these risks so it can effectively complete projects and achieve goals. Risk management is all about taking precautions, and effective risk management planning can help project managers to anticipate potential risks at the outset of a project and before a problem arises. The ultimate goal: To avoid a crisis.

Internal and external factors can influence risk. An internal source could be an individual or group inside the company, whereas external sources may include consumer preferences and demands, competition, sales, economic climate or the regulatory environment.

Risks can have positive or negative outcomes. Whereas a negative risk may pose a threat, a positive risk may present a business opportunity.

What is risk management planning?

Risk management planning is the process of identifying, assessing and responding to any potential risks your company and its projects may face. First up is developing a risk management plan—a document that provides step-by-step instructions on how to identify and plan responses to any scenarios that may put your project or organization at risk. This plan can help managers visualize how a risk might play out and what steps they would need to take to resolve it.

Knowing how to make a risk management plan can help project managers anticipate issues before they arise and prevent catastrophic events. In fact, a project risk management plan defines the processes involved with how to plan for, avoid and manage risks throughout the life cycle of a project. The plan consists of an analysis of likely risks, solutions and strategies. It places risks on a scale ranging from high to low impact and takes into account any unexpected circumstances that might affect a project's timeline, costs or outcome.

An effective risk management plan determines who is responsible for managing each risk, and each individual team member's role. The plan spells out how to report situations that arise, and who the key decision makers should be.

Costs are a factor in any project, and a project risk management plan details how to deal with budgetary concerns, cost changes and even the expenses involved with the risk management process itself.

Adhering to risk strategy is critical to a risk management plan. Risk management strategies include:

• Avoid the risk altogether. It's nearly impossible to avoid every single threat, which is why businesses should emphasize the importance of project risk management.
• Mitigate the risk. This means taking actions to control an unavoidable risk and minimizing any damage the risk may cause.
• Share or transfer the risk to another party. Buying insurance is an example of transferring risk.
• Accept the risk. If all else fails, take responsibility and accept the consequences.

A successful business takes numerous risks in order to grow. Embarking on such endeavours with robust and strategic risk management protocols can provide crucial protection against risk-taking failure.

The risk management process

Implementing an effective risk management process can empower a business to streamline its projects and operations.

The risk management process entails planning for the assessment of potential risks and mitigating the impacts of risks after they occur. Managers can use this exercise to determine their organization's risk tolerance and what the company is able to withstand.

The process consists of the following risk management strategies:

• Risk identification. As part of the risk assessment process, risk identification involves the project manager and project team creating what's known as a risk register. This is a list of all identified risks with a threat level assigned to each one, based on the severity and possible frequency of each potential risk.
  Risks can fall into several categories, including risks to business, projects, budgets, people and objectives. Past experience, institutional knowledge and industry experts can help identify any potential risks. Brainstorming with colleagues can also be useful for coming up with a list of risks.
  Using a risk breakdown structure, managers can organize and detail risks according to categories. They can assign a rating to each risk, based on low, moderate and high levels of seriousness and rate of occurrence. For example, in the category of project scheduling, a low-level risk might include a contractor beginning the project a few days late. A high-level risk might be that the project is delayed because of a worker injury or fatality.

• Analyzing and evaluating risks. Also key to risk assessment is the process of performing a risk analysis and evaluating how those risks might affect a project or organization. Risk analysis and evaluation takes into consideration the likelihood that a risk might occur, as well as a risk's level of impact.
• Determine risk and formulate a risk mitigation plan. Once you've identified and evaluated risks, the next step is to determine the priority level of each risk and develop a plan for how to mitigate them.
  A mitigation strategy can be a preventative plan for how to minimize the likelihood or severity of a risk, or a contingency plan detailing which steps to take if a risk becomes a reality. This plan should go into place before a project begins.

• Risk monitoring: Risk management is an essential role of project managers and should be a task they and other team members practice daily.
  As a project proceeds, chances are that the risks identified early on in the process could come to fruition. That's why it's imperative for the project manager to continually review and revisit the risk management plan to address any risks that may arise, and to adjust the risk register as needed.

Importance of risk management planning for your business

An effective risk management plan can help a business prepare for these uncertainties and ultimately protect precious resources such as time, revenue, employees and assets.

Knowing the importance of project risk management can help a business create a safer workplace and guard itself from threats such as injury, theft, cyber attacks or natural disasters. These steps can help protect employees and minimize the business' environmental impacts. They can also help the business minimize legal liabilities and lower its chances of facing litigation.

Strategic risk management planning can also help a business determine its insurance needs and figure out how much coverage may be necessary, or what the business can afford to go without.

Effective risk management can help a company grow its business and create a more efficient operation. By identifying and managing risks from the outset, businesses can avoid surprises and uncover new opportunities.

This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or an opinion on any issue. It should not be regarded as comprehensive or a substitute for professional advice.