By Dana P Skopal, PhD

In this latest global pandemic, clear communication has become key for good management and governance.  This leads to asking: have leaders or management defined their risk management strategies and how they plan to keep the community and clients safe?

Think about your workplace or community. Have your leaders or managers defined the term ‘risk’ or explained what it means to stay ‘safe’ at work? First, what does risk mean to you? As we can have financial risk, credit risk, or a health risk, the possibility exists that each person in your organisation creates their own interpretation of each ‘risk’. If you are a manager, do you have clear procedures in place to ensure your staff understand your operational or business level of risk? How does this now link to being safe in a global pandemic?

Managing risks involves many steps, all of which should be well documented and clearly communicated. A manager not only needs to monitor the levels of risk, they need to communicate the correct procedures and practices to the staff. The word ‘risk’ is an abstract noun, as are most of the descriptions in this blog – eg procedures, management, and strategies. Communicating with abstract nouns can lead to misunderstandings unless the terms are clearly described. Stop and check that your team agrees on the processes you are now adopting as workers and clients return to work – consider how you define and express these key concepts to keep everyone safe. Ensure your steps are clear, and think about adopting the principles of plain English and good information design.

Perhaps think about risk management as being able to do business safely and being prepared for any unforeseen events. Remember: Lord Robert Baden-Powell decreed the Scout motto of ‘be prepared’.

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