Resources
Live Long and Prosper: Strategies for Longevity in Risk and Life
By Melanie Lockwood Herman When NRMC meets with prospective consulting clients, they almost always express concern about sustaining their risk management efforts. We hear things like: “We were full speed ahead when we began our ERM program a few years back, but it has withered on the vine. We need to build something that is … Continued
Make Progress in Your Risk Program Real, Not a Mirage
By Melanie Lockwood Herman In their terrific book, Risk: A User’s Guide, authors McChrystal and Butrico describe “structure” as one of 10 dimensions of building a “Risk Immune System.” But they caution readers that changing the structure of a function may not necessarily mean the function is improving. Experienced nonprofit leaders know the illusion and … Continued
Risk Leadership Life Hacks
by Melanie Lockwood Herman A Google search for the term “life hacks” returns 318 million results. That’s a lot of advice on efficiency whirling around the web! These days, everyone is interested in how to do things better, maximize precious time and resources, and bolster personal and professional efficiency. I recently listened as a leader … Continued
Growing Up Fast: Risk Program Maturity
By Melanie Lockwood Herman Every year on my daughter’s birthday, I am reminded of how quickly time passes. So many milestones in her life seem like they happened moments ago: her first Halloween-themed birthday party, the first day of kindergarten, her first dance recital, and so on. During a recent birthday chat, I refrained from … Continued
Perfect is the Mortal Enemy of the Good: Why Minimum Viable Risk Practices are Perfect
By Melanie Lockwood Herman Seasoned hiring managers and interviewers often listen carefully for an interviewee’s response that acts as a red flag waving “don’t hire this person!” For me, it’s a statement like this: “I’m a perfectionist,” or “My biggest weakness is that I don’t want to stop working on something until I get it … Continued
7 Techniques to Reimagine Your Relationship with Risk
By Melanie Lockwood Herman In just over a week, clocks around the world will strike midnight, and risk professionals will be opening the door to another year of risks. There will be good and bad surprises we never envisioned, the arrival of future professional friends we haven’t met yet, and the inevitable departures of close … Continued
Egalitarian Risk Leadership: Flatten or Fatten?
By Melanie Lockwood Herman In our capacity as advisors and coaches, the NRMC team develops and adapts risk management frameworks, strategies and tools for the complex nonprofits we serve. No two consulting clients or Affiliate Members are the same. To make the consideration of risk a worthwhile endeavor, versus a rote ritual, it’s crucial to … Continued
Clearing the Air: How to Find Powerful Lessons After a Loss or Near Miss
By Melanie Lockwood Herman The hindsight bias, also known as the “I-knew-it-all-along” effect, is the tendency to believe that past events were predictable. In the risk realm, an important part of a risk leader’s responsibility is reflecting on mistakes, losses, near misses and situations that didn’t go as planned or hoped. The NRMC team strongly … Continued
Restructuring Risk Roles
By Erin Gloeckner Throughout the sector, more and more nonprofits are formally assigning risk management responsibility to an individual or team focused on risk, usually with risk or related words in their job titles. Many NRMC clients succeed by assigning an existing team to wear the risk hat and champion risk management initiatives, without recognizing … Continued
Risk Management Benchmarking: Comparing Your Risk Program to Other Nonprofits
By Eric Henkel By nature, people like to compare things. Being able to see how things match up gives us a method of perceiving value and worth. For individuals, look no further than our use of social media. It fuels this type of comparison by showing us how many likes or followers someone has. For … Continued
Foodie Risk: How Eating Habits Mirror Risk Management Maturity
By Eric Henkel During the launch of NRMC’s Risk Leadership Certificate Program, I was struck by the amount of sharing and collaboration that happened during the group meals. Participants often took the opportunity to follow up on a topic from an earlier breakout session or to share information about their experiences with risk management in their … Continued