Risk Management on the Move

          “There is beauty for ashes” is the very notion that proves to be an amazing source of power to uphold our spirit, especially when we are faced with stresses and/or nerve-racking situations. This happened to me when I had to attend a two-day workshop on Organizational Risk Management at my university. At my age, sitting and listening to long lectures is not easy. Besides, I time and again felt uneasy and skeptical towards the “magical” power of risk management, claimed to be life-saving when things turn out destructive and detrimental to the future of an organization. According to the speaker, a risk is different from a problem in that the former is future-oriented while the latter is largely past-bound. Immediately came into my mind are two pivotal questions: 1) How much can we get from the uncertainties of the future that Risk Management scheme tries to control? and 2) What can I get, as an individual, from this two-day organizational risk management workshop? Finally, I must admit that, due to my limited experiences and skepticism toward the validity of risk management methodology, I still cannot find the right answer to the first question, and I need to leave it for the uncertain and constantly changeable world of the future to answer. The second question, however, proves beneficial as I gained certain insights to share in this reflective note.  

          The first thing I learn how to handle the world’s uncertainties is to stop overthinking. We oftentimes feel depressed, lose hope, and cannot enjoy the beauty of the world around us because we think too much about the things and people that we are way beyond our control. A will to control the uncertainties (read “worries”) in life can instigate us to spend energy, money, and time planning procedures to overcome many what-if questions such as “what if the whole city is suddenly flooded?”, “what if she changes her mind and finally loves someone else?”, or “what if my close friend cheats on me someday?” These what-if questions when systematically maximized to make them look like a giant to overcome are more likely to entail what can be called “risk management” plans. All available resources will be pulled out and brought on the table to make the plans against the imaginary what-if questions feasible and workable. Yet, to those overthinking minds (me included), may I, with humility, ask what if what we think and have carefully planned for has little or nothing to do with the uncertainties of the future?

          According to the speaker in the risk management workshop, “problems” are, as mentioned earlier, different from “risks” in that the former have already existed (past and present) while the latter may only come into scene in the future. This distinction makes me feel that to be most productive for the prosperity of our organization and for our life, we need to focus on the doing rather than the thinking or, worse, overthinking. Of course, we can do or create anything only in the present time although we may use the past experiences as the basis. We can never create anything good and practical from the future events which, at the present time, exist only in our imagination. Therefore, the second idea I gained from the two-day risk management workshop is to keep present. It is when we are present that we can be most creative in our doing or action, and in such a way that we can bring out the best for the benefit of our organization and ourselves.

            The last insight I gained from the workshop is that we can grow in darkness. It is not wrong for many of us to prefer light to darkness. With light we can escape from possible hurt or danger as we avoid bumping into things or people as we may do when in the dark. As a matter of fact, human civilization from the start has used light as a symbol of “wisdom” and darkness, ignorance or “stupidity.” However, there are times when darkness is perceived as the good seed for life progress. As far as Christianity is concerned, God works when we rest at night, and HE rests when we work during the day. This connotes the idea that God turns things around in our favor when we are still and anchor our hope and trust in Him, not to always worry about daily problems and commotions. Scientifically, growth hormone comes to us in darkness, the golden period is believed to be between 23.00 – 03.00 hours when the deepest sleep sets in. Accordingly, darkness is not always dreadful; it is necessary for us to grow, spiritually, physically, and intellectually. I must say that sitting long hours and under suspicion of the outcomes of risk management plan did give me such darkness that literally opened my eye to the truth that we can also grow from adversities or things we don’t like such as darkness, problems at work, or hardship in life. I know that nothing is permanent and everything around us keeps changing along with the moving world.

            In short, the three insights I gained from the workshop on organizational risk management are 1) stop overthinking, 2) be present, and 3) grow in darkness. I believe that these are the components of progress and they can be applied for the prosperity of our organization and life as an individual. We can save time, money, and energy from overthinking and subsequently “over-planning,” generate creative works with more focus on the present time (which is more realistic) than on the imaginary world of the future, and get more strength and passion to work from the so-called foreboding “darkness.” Without these three insights in action, we might encounter bigger risks in the future.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tipchan Wongchanta