Supporting a faith organisation with its strategic risk management

15 October 2024

A faith organisation approached the Ecclesiastical Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) team asking for support to further develop their strategic risk management arrangements.

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Over a period of months the ERM team provided help in the following areas:

An independent lens on the organisation's risk management approach

This involved an independent review of the organisation's current risk management approach against best practice. The review acknowledged the positive work that had been completed to date, recent improvements to the risk register format, improved ownership of top risks and the introduction of a risk heat map. Areas for improvement were also highlighted around defining risk appetite, moving from a word document risk register to excel format, including the recommendations of some additional fields, to make it more agile and user friendly further embedding  risk management into day-to-day operations.

Tailored ERM coaching for those in the driving seat

To support embedding of risk management, three tailored ERM coaching sessions were provided to two individuals within the organisation with responsibility for risk management. The coaching sessions focussed on the following areas:
 
  • Coaching session 1:  An overview of ERM covering benefits, risk framework and supporting process, risk register and emerging risks
  • Coaching session 2:  A focus on risk perceptions and risk appetite, risk mitigation strategies and the control environment
  • Coaching session 3:  A wrap-up session providing the opportunity for the individuals involved to ask any questions and clarify anything from the previous sessions.

Refresher risk training to bring risk management to life

This involved a virtual strategic risk training workshop with the Senior Management team highlighting progress to date with regards to risk management developments and walking through the ERM Framework and supporting process to bring it to life and further embed the risk culture within the organisation.

How did this help the faith organisation?

The faith organisation was more confident with their risk management arrangements which were proportionate to the size and shape of their organisation. They felt that risk management was more embedded into normal operations and were better placed to manage risks and look for opportunities aligned to the delivery of their key objectives.
Firstly, you’ll be pleased to know we have worked our way through the risk register and done quite a lot of reorganisation following our sessions with you. Our Audit & Risk Committee team have been very supportive of the developments we’ve made and we had a positive session with our senior staff team last week. Sarah and Steph were so helpful in our rethinking of the concept of risk and improving our understanding of and approach to risk management. At all times they were supportive and encouraging with a mind to formulating an approach that was proportionate to our needs. Highly recommendable!

Faith organisation customer