Quels sont les défis et les obstacles courants en matière de gestion des risques et comment les surmonter?

Ten years ago, during the banking crisis, a major KM challenge in our Greek financial institution was the lack of a KM culture in risk management. The focus was mainly on compliance rather than strategic objectives. To address this, we communicated the benefits of KM for risk management through workshops and seminars, highlighting success stories. We recognised and rewarded behaviours that aligned with KM values, such as sharing best practices. Additionally, we provided training on KM tools and techniques, fostering a culture of risk awareness, openness, and collaboration, which ultimately improved decision-making during the crisis.

Sem dúvida uma das dificuldades da gestão de riscos é fazer com que cada colaborador entenda seu conceito e aplique naturalmente no seu dia a dia. Mas o que vejo quanto essa dificuldade, é a falta de planejamento para implantação de uma cultura de gestão de riscos. Cultura não se molda da noite pro dia, são no mínimo 2 anos de trabalho constante pra começar os primeiros frutos. A Empresa precisa saber oque ela quer e entende como GC, exemplo: todo colaborador deve saber minimamente conceitos basicos de gestão de riscos. Isso é suficiente na sua Empresa? Não, é necessário que cada colaborador saiba avaliar seus riscos. Enfim, é necessário estas definições para a criação de um programa de cultura consistente ao longo dos anos.

Building a robust Knowledge Management (KM) culture is crucial for efficient information flow and innovation within organizations. Encouraging a sense of ownership and value for knowledge sharing across all levels fosters proactive participation. Implementing gamification in knowledge-sharing activities can incentivize engagement and create a dynamic sharing environment. Leveraging social collaboration platforms enhances accessibility and encourages spontaneous exchanges. Cultural alignment with KM strategies, regular workshops, cross-functional collaborations, and data analytics for proactive insights are practical steps to sustain a thriving KM culture. Empowered employees drive innovation and efficiency, leading to collective success.

In order to enable KM there is a very important grassroot step to consider: critical knowledge identification. When this vital step is overlooked or not carried out properly, you eventually end up spending time and resources on knowledge that won't necessarily add value. Hence you start to create barriers and obtain a low buy in since the results are not aligned with the real business needs.

In a KM project during the banking crisis in Greece (see above), we faced poor KM processes in risk management, leading to information overload and knowledge gaps. To address this, we defined clear roles for KM and risk teams and appointed KM coordinators in each department. We developed a comprehensive risk knowledge base using SharePoint, implemented quality and security standards with regular audits, and created a detailed risk knowledge map. Our dissemination strategy included weekly email summaries, monthly intranet updates, and quarterly workshops. This ensured timely access to crucial information, enhancing decision-making during the crisis.

In the past, researchers have focused on risk and knowledge management as separate topics. Unfortunately, there is still limited knowledge about the relationship between risk management and implementing a KM program across a wide range of industries.

Un proceso pobre de gestión del conocimiento puede llevarte a que la gestión del riesgo se torne una actividad vacía y falta de sentido. Cuando se cae en esa situación es difícil recuperarse. La forma más trivial, aunque efectiva, de mejorar cualquier proceso es discretizarlo en sus diversas etapas, analizarlas, repensar los objetivos y metas, revisar sus entradas o disparadores, y fundamentalmente procurar que todo sea cumplible y demostrable. Se obtiene un proceso real y sensato, y una buena base para la mejora continua.

To overcome the low KM adoption among risk management practitioners, we conducted stakeholder analysis and user needs assessments to understand their motivations and challenges. We developed a change management and communication plan addressing barriers to KM adoption. We introduced a user-friendly platform (i.e. SharePoint) for easy knowledge sharing and reuse. Additionally, we engaged and empowered practitioners through training sessions, feedback loops, and incentives for active participation. This approach significantly improved KM adoption and enhanced risk management efficiency.

Unfortunately, knowledge management still requires heavy marketing to every level of an organization. Buy-in has to start at the top. But ultimately, everyone must understand their role as a knowledge worker.

Achieving high KM adoption rates is crucial but often challenging due to low initial acceptance. Picture joining a team excited about a new KM system, only to find colleagues prefer old methods. It's like having a great toolbox no one wants to use! To address this, cultivate a culture valuing knowledge sharing. Share success stories where KM led to faster problem-solving or better decisions. Implement user-friendly KM tools and provide comprehensive training. Encourage top-down support and highlight KM's value regularly through newsletters, meetings, and recognition programs. Stress that KM empowers teams, fosters innovation, and drives collective intelligence.

One thing I have noticed is that oftentimes organizations can identify that they need Learning & Development but struggle to get to the conclusion that deep knowledge management is a crucial component to bring Learning and Development to life. As a knowledge Management Professional, it is often important to learn to help the organization make that realization and build a framework for how that work can and should be done.

Frequent start turnover poses a significant risk to organizations, but proactive knowledge management can mitigate this. In every organization where I’ve implemented KM, I ensure HR, leadership and departmental representatives are integral to the KM steering committee. Don't wait for exit interviews to manage departing knowledge—start capturing and managing it from day one. Make it a habit, especially on those "Happy Fridays," to keep your knowledge base thriving!

The biggest knowledge problem I see in Risk Management is the lack of consideration around risks that involve complex interactions or emergent (and often unintended) outcomes. In emergency services they refer to these as "Low frequency, high impact risks". This can be partially solved by increasing diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints, but a solid knowledge management program will make finding the right people with the right insights a lot easier. Access to past, similar projects or cases can trigger a new branch of investigation or help ideate better controls, and most importantly, involving people from across your organisation in the risk management process primes them to be more aware of similar risks in their own workspaces.

Another KM challenge and barrier in risk management includes inconsistent or irregular sharing of risk-related knowledge across the organization leading to a lack of risk awareness and preparedness. Establishing standardized processes for regular knowledge sharing, such as weekly or monthly risk review meetings, and creating a central knowledge repository where all risk-related information is stored and easily accessible are ways to address this.

I think that one of the challenges and barriers in risk management are: Not seeking to anticipate and recognize risks: Obtaining the maximum amount of information about threats and obstacles is essential to combat them efficiently. Not defining clear parameters and objectives: Sectors involved, working conditions and focus of risk management must be established precisely and aligned with the mission and vision of the organization.