I have recently been asked to deliver a refresher session on the risk assessment methodology for an Enterprise Risk Management (“ERM”) program.

If there is something I dislike (hate?!), in my otherwise perfect role, this is it … To be in front of a very diverse bunch of people and be telling (as opposed to engaging and collaborating with) to:

• the Chief Marketing Officer, who is better than me at managing his risks but who doesn’t want to spend two hours of his life talking about methodologies.
• my colleague from second line who is very technical and wants to get deeper into details.
• the internal audit team who is there to see what is the criteria that they can use in their audits.
• my boss (i.e., the Chief Risk Officer / Head of Risk Management) who really wants the ERM process to become more strategic.

When this happens and I have to provide “classroom” / traditional type of training, I feel like the TV. I get my message out, but I have no idea if it is received and most importantly, if it has an impact. Do they even listen?

I therefore do not believe in the traditional, “classroom”-type of training, not for the Enterprise Risk Management program because I believe it limits the outcomes.

So, instead, I proposed a “roundtable” type of discussion.

What is a roundtable training in risk management?

The roundtable training is a form of education, but more conversational and engaging than a traditional approach. In my case, it was a collaborative, knowledge-sharing and positive discussion on the risk assessment methodology used in the ERM program.

For you, it could be a discussion session, with the purpose to educate, on any risk management concept. And I mean any concept, enterprise risk management, GRC, risk control, operational risk management, key risk indicators, contingency planning, board oversight, whatever.

Why a roundtable risk management training?

Any risk management professional will tell you that the biggest challenge that you will face in risk management is to embed it as a business management process. [I talk more about this here]. To make risk management an activity that people live with, in a similar way they live and engage with accounting, or with regular HR processes like recruitment, performance reviews etc…

The secret to this is to engage as many people as possible in the process. To find a role for them, to convince them of the huge impact they are making, and yes …. educate them in their role.

In a roundtable-type of training you can engage a large number of people as contributors. I had 14 in my session. Moreover, there were more than 25 people in the meeting and each was able to speak and share an idea or challenge. You cannot do this in a typical classroom training, for various reasons.

People like to contribute. They love to share from their experience with others, peers, direct reports and especially with their senior leaders. The roundtable is exactly that type of concept that allows them to do that.

Because it’s a discussion type of session, the roundtables foster debates. These create and consolidate knowledge. Actions will emerge from these. Maybe even new ways of doing things, new, agile methodologies. In the debates we had, it was reiterated and praised the professional judgement. And you want your people to use their judgement when they contribute in managing your business. You do not want them to wait for written instructions for the smallest tasks.

Finally, you can have a diverse range of people in the room, and everything will feel natural. I had a few “Chiefs“ in the room and they could give the “tone from the top”.

How to organise a successful roundtable training: Key steps

Now that you are very close to offer your team / organisation a roundtable risk management training, you need to make another decision. Who will organise, lead and facilitate this session?

Although it is a very rewarding initiative (I can guarantee that), it does take some time.

My advice is to give this task to your most “fiery red” but at the same time “sunshine yellow” person in your ERM team. Yes, I am talking about the Insights personality characteristics.

You will want a results-driven personality (red) that can mobilise and facilitate (yellow) a large number of people before and in a two hours session. 

If you don’t have the time or don’t have anyone in your team that can do it at this moment, hire a consultant. They can organise your first roundtable session and can also train a colleague to do it.  

To deliver a successful roundtable training in risk management, follow these eight steps:

1. Define a relevant and comprehensive agenda

You need to be very clear on what the session will cover. The agenda will have a main theme. This is the training need identified by you or requested from you by the board, people involved in the risk management process, internal audit etc… It can be the ERM risk assessment methodology (like in my case), how to define the risk management strategy for a specific risk, how to define contingency planning, etc…

Separate this theme into several agenda topics. A topic should be covered within 15 minutes maximum. This is to give you an idea about the granularity.

So for example, in my roundtable about ERM risk assessment methodology, my topics were:

• Inherent level
• Control environment
• Residual level
• Appetite level
• Risk aggregation

Each of the above topics were covered by different examples.

2. Identify the participants and contributors

You decided to have a roundtable session and not a classroom or e-learning session because you wanted your employees and colleagues to discuss and share their views. A roundtable can work with a large number of participants, I had more than 25 in my session.

So take advantage of it and send the invitation to all the people that would be interested in this discussion. These will be your participants.

Contributors are the people who have one agenda topic allocated. They will introduce that agenda topic during the session, by providing their example. How they do that activity in the process.

I had 15 contributors among the participants.

Make this list as diverse as you can. Yes, a Chief Legal Officer would be happy to contribute to share his experience on how he assesses the legal risks. Also a Chief Information Officer. Or someone from second line. Oh, and they bring such a powerful mix of experience and knowledge. Everyone will appreciate this session.    

3. Plan the roundtable session

This is possibly the most important part of the entire session. You have your contributors who have agreed to share their experience. You now have to prepare them for the session. You can’t have 15 people with 15 different presentations and approaches.

Have a 30-minute meeting with each contributor 1-2 weeks before the session. Explain to them their role in the meeting. This will be to share their experience with the participants and then invite them to ask questions or share their views.

As the contributor to prepare an example and share it with you in advance of the meeting. Build a consolidated PowerPoint with all these examples. You now have even a training material!

4. Run and facilitate the roundtable meeting  

The day has come. There are still a few things that need to be cared for, but the session should run really well.  

I already advised you to choose the right facilitator for it. Imagine this. You have 25+ participants in the room for two hours. Make it worth it. It will bring value.

You have an agenda, contributors and a session material. The facilitator will have to ensure that each contributor shares from experience. Provides their examples. Invites for questions, comments, challenges.

I keep saying room, but the session can be online as well, or a combination of both. I was the facilitator, but I joined the meeting online. I went well.

5. Take away key ideas and actions

Also key in the meeting it is for the facilitator to identify those ideas that everyone agrees on. In my case, a powerful idea emerged. Although it was a session on risk assessment methodology, everyone agreed that a methodology is not enough. It is nothing without professional judgement.

How powerful it is to get out of a meeting and 25+ of your people to understand that they have to show their expertise. Yes, still follow the rules.

That conclusion reminded me of what Dr. Patchin Curtis, director, Deloitte & Touche LLP in the United States, once said:

“What models and simulations should not be used for, however, is to replace business acumen and common sense. […] Think of models and simulations as a compass to guide decision making, rather than an autopilot that makes decisions for you.”

6. Adjust your framework with the ideas generated

Many ideas were generated in your roundtable. Some might even challenge your current methodologies. Why don’t you use it to adjust these frameworks? You obtained these ideas for free. Many times, you pay some external consultants to advice you on improvements.  

7. Deliver the actions

There will be actions coming up from the roundtable. Act on them to further improve your risk management process.

Organise your roundtable training in risk management today

Now you know how to organise a roundtable training in risk management. Start organising it today! It will bring you immense benefits.