The International Institute of Risk & Safety Management

Strategy and business plan to 2021

www.iirsm.org

CONTENTS

Introduction

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3Our purpose

How we define risk management

The challenges

Our response

The benefits of IIRSM’s strategy

Our vision

What underpins our strategy

About IIRSM

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Our mission 3

The last thirty years have seen fundamental changes to both the type and the nature of risks facing organisations, economies and communities. Technological, economic and demographic changes have accelerated and are now more complex and more intertwined than those of even a few decades ago. Developments in cyber provide an apt illustration. From the invention of the internet as a largely academic tool in the 1980s, the global ecommerce retail market is now forecast to reach over $28 tn by 2018. The opportunities are huge, but so are the risks - it’s estimated that the world’s four largest economies lose over $200 bn a year to cybercrime. While only recently businesses reluctantly accepted cyber security as an inevitable cost of doing business, multi-nationals now recognise that governments, regulators and consumers see poor cyber security as an increasingly unacceptable risk. Businesses therefore must ensure that their risk management strategies help them to manage expected events but also ensure that their workforce are equipped to deal with unexpected, accidental and emerging events.

At the same time, volatile economic cycles are tempting business to cut dangerous corners. An estimated 2.3 million people die every year from work-related accidents and diseases, costing the global economy over 4% of its annual GDP. As well as the preventable human cost, the implications for businesses are severe. At the start of 2015, BP’s predicted costs from the Deepwater Horizon disaster had reached over $43 bn, 40% had been lost from its share price and the company continues to face protracted legal battles.

Yet integrated risk management is about much more than just the bottom line. It is also about ensuring our communities are safe, our systems of government are stable and that economies have a stable base from which to grow. From telecommunications to transport, FinTech to Big Data, supply chain to health and safety, risks do not exist in silos. Sustainable organisations need to manage their risks at each and every level. Our role is to help them do so.

Introduction

“Integrated risk management is about ensuring our communities are safe, our systems of government are stable and that economies have a stable base from which to grow. ”

Our purpose

IIRSM’s purpose is to educate and increase understanding of how managing risk can benefit people, society and business. We do this by providing support, education and training to our members and partners and the general public. Our purpose is underpinned by a new strategy, vision and mission and five year strategic plan.

As businesses try to adapt to today’s multiple, diverse risks, we continually re-evaluate the scope of our role and the services we offer our members to ensure they better meet today’s needs.

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Our Members lead the way in managing risks to benefit people, society, government and business.

Our vision

To be the international Institute of choice for everyone involved in managing risk to benefit both organisations and wider society. We will achieve this by supporting our worldwide membership and collaborating with partners and industry to deliver learning and development to embed an active risk approach.

Our mission

The concept of integrating risk management across an organisation and developing responsibility at all levels is not new. However, many organisations across the private and public sector still find it difficult to join up the strategic and operational aspects of managing risk. This is one of the key challenges our strategy aims to address.

Strategic organisational-wide risks include financial, political, competition, industry change, geopolitical instability and mergers & acquisitions. All these create risks and opportunities which directly affect the bottom line; how they are managed has a direct impact on financial performance, operational efficiencies and reputation, and in some cases even saving lives. As such, these are key matters for the board.

Heads of functions (such as health and safety, HR, finance, procurement, PR and marketing and IT) are responsible for planning and frontline employees for managing day-to-day operational risks. These include physical health and safety, occupational health and wellbeing, environment, security, supply chain management, legal, reputational risks and business continuity.

Increasingly, organisations are looking to both risk professionals and senior business executives to be jointly responsible for marrying up the strategic and operational.

The challenges

IIRSM’s members are already an integral part of the risk management community. From an Institute initially created to focus on health and safety, we want to ensure our members have the opportunity to embrace other areas of risk and work effectively with their counterparts in other risk disciplines and with those responsible for managing key business functions.

Just as the risk management role has evolved significantly in the last few decades so, too, have the expectations of the role of professional bodies. As well as raising awareness and enhancing the reputation and career options for members, these bodies now need to be at the forefront of promoting new and flexible ways for their members to develop at all stages of their professional lives. Our recent research, for example, has shown us that IIRSM members would appreciate workplace support and education in a number of different ways. In the context of this a more integrated approach to managing risk, our new strategy both deepens and broadens our remit. It provides our members with an opportunity to upskill, gain in-depth expertise in the real-life risks their organisations face and achieve full recognition of their critical role in the wider risk management community.

Our response

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In today’s highly competitive environment, organisations that understand and embed real-world risk management at all levels have an advantage, by evolving and adapting sustainably in a constantly changing world.

While many organisations now employ experts in this area, the same mistakes occur year after year, be it malfunctioning legacy software or supply chain failure. One of the reasons is that responsibility for managing an organisation’s risks cannot be delivered solely by one person or business function. Organisations must approach risk in a holistic way, developing the knowledge, skills and governance to identify and receive information from across the organisation in order to implement a dynamic risk strategy.

Governance and organisation for risk is strategic, but delivering and communicating a risk management approach is the responsibility of everyone in the organisation. By putting in place the systems, policies and processes and, above all, the culture of ownership which makes them ‘risk active’, organisations can meet the challenges of today’s fluid, fast-moving risks.

How we define risk management

“Delivering and communicating a risk management approach is the responsibility of everyone in the organisation. ”

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Our theory of change is that providing a practical educational approach to managing risks for all, not purely specialists, will ensure far greater numbers use risk management to avoid harm and to anticipate and maximise opportunities. Society, businesses and communities will all benefit from a ‘risk active’ approach.

This approach to managing risk is different from other risk-related organisations. We are independent and have no stake in any one particular theoretical stance. Our approach is on developing practical competence in identifying and managing risk for all. It is relevant to all sectors and types of organisation, inclusive, collaborative and focused on the real-life needs of individuals, businesses, government and society as a whole.

Our new strategy will position us as a cooperative, expert risk management Institute that works across business functions and risk disciplines. Through building meaningful partnerships and industry-wide collaboration we will embed this practical approach across organisations at a time when they are increasingly receptive. By demonstrating the importance of everyone managing risk in an organisation – from the board to the most junior – we will help to raise the profile of risk management.

By raising standards, supporting our global membership and providing practical learning and development, we will position ourselves as the international Institute of choice for everyone involved in the management of risk.

The benefits of IIRSM’s strategy

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Last year, IIRSM’s Council began a process of strategic change to evaluate the opportunities open to us and identify the most relevant ways to achieve them.

Our strategic objectives are:

• To grow, diversify and raise the status of members through greater recognition of the risk management discipline in business, government and society.

• To help ensure members meet their career aspirations and perform their roles competently by providing access to people, knowledge and practical learning and development.

• To be recognised as a leader in the provision of risk management qualifications.

• To run IIRSM as a transparent, collaborative, effective and sustainable professional organisation.

What underpins our strategy?

We undertook a major research programme, which included interviewing business and risk management professionals from all types of organisations, backgrounds and experiences. We surveyed our members, held interviews with many of them and completed substantial desk research. This resulted in our five year business plan and five key pillars.

Learning and development

Engagement and collaboration

Resilience and stability

Governance and transparency

Respect and credibility

We have identified these pillars as being of most relevance to our members, their employers and industry and IIRSM’s aim to achieve growth over the next five years. We have highlighted key initiatives under each section below.

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We will ensure that IIRSM’s brand and purpose continues to be relevant to both current and new members, and improve its relevance to stakeholders in the risk management community. We aim to become the main choice for practical risk management education and training, and will harness the expertise of our members to influence, support and raise the status of individuals.

The main initiatives planned in this area are to:

Respect and credibility

Review our technical agenda to ensure it continues to be of value to current and new members.

Work collaboratively with industry and academic partners on a major piece of thought leadership each year, reflecting the issues and topics of interest and affecting members and their organisations.

Raise the status and rewards for members through a robust review of our membership structure and criteria for joining.

Deliver an awareness-raising strategy to raise our profile through clear, targeted and consistent communications, reflecting the expertise of our global membership and reach.

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We will develop professional standards of competence that will underpin a new suite of qualifications, future training, events and other CPD activities and our new membership structure. These will be extensively researched and tested to ensure they meet the needs of the risk and business community. We will provide the tools and opportunities for our members to broaden their risk management knowledge and capability while attracting and supporting those new to the profession.

The main initiatives planned for this area are to:

Learning and development

Introduce new qualifications which meet employer and member needs at different career stages.

Provide free and accessible resources including webinars, practical guides and an online knowledge library.

Develop a training and events career development programme linked to IIRSM’s professional standards of competence for those from entry level through to experienced professionals.

Review and implement a new continuing professional development scheme.

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• Introduce a volunteering and mentoring programme harnessing the expertise within our membership. •

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“We aim to harness the expertise of our members to influence, support and raise the status of individuals. ”

IIRSM’s key strengths are its membership and its relationships. We will broaden our partnerships and work in collaboration with a wider group of stakeholders to ensure both current and future members are in position of influence in the workplace. The main initiatives planned for this area are to:

Engagement and collaboration

Establish partnerships through learning and development, membership, sponsorship and joint events to improve standards of competence and skills in risk management and support IIRSM’s profile.

Revitalise our branch network to maximise member engagement, peer-to peer learning and local influence.

Undergo a stakeholder mapping exercise to enable us to prioritise our stakeholders, their needs and our approach.

Establish Special Interest Groups which reflect the needs of our current and future membership composition.

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• Build an increasingly influential PR strategy and develop a pool of experts to help raise IIRSM’s profile and reach. •

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To support long-term sustainability, generate funds for reinvestment into the Institute and support future growth, while reducing our reliance on membership subscriptions, we will establish and rejuvenate products and services to ensure they meet the needs of current and future members and create attractive sponsorship packages.

The main initiatives planned for this area are to:

Resilience and sustainability

Re-launch Corporate Membership and Group Affiliate Schemes.

Develop and implement a sponsorship partnership strategy and plan.

Develop and implement an in-house training proposition.

Implement a new CRM system to improve service, support growth and to maximise return on investment.

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• Identify and drive appropriate business through our trading subsidiary. •

Professional bodies must manage their governance and processes in a visibly fair and open way. IIRSM also needs to ensure it has the representation and skills to support the repositioning and vision of the Institute and delivery of the strategy.

The main initiatives planned for this area are to:

Governance and transparency

Undertake skills audits of Council, Committees and staff to meet the needs of our membership and provide excellent value and service. •

Achieve ISO Certification to improve and monitor policies and processes, ensuring our internal processes are efficient and support the development of our staff and the Institute.•

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The International Institute of Risk and Safety Management is dedicated to supporting everyone involved in the management of risk. We are proud to be a collaborative and accessible professional body, run by members for members. Established in 1975, we are a non-profit making charity with 8,000 members in over 70 countries. Our members represent all sectors and types of organisations and work in different risk disciplines globally, including safety, health and wellbeing, business continuity, sustainability, construction, environmental management, project management engineering, security, environment, occupational health and quality management.

We work to:

About IIRSM

Ensure our member designatory letters are recognised as the benchmark in the field of risk management.

Build an environment in which our members feel valued and have opportunities to develop professionally and increase their skills, knowledge and competence.

Provide practical and accessible education, resources and networking opportunities to support career progression.

Collaborate to create meaningful partnerships to raise awareness and educate people, society, government and business.

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Provide quality products and services and deliver excellence in our customer service. •

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Be transparent and demonstrate good practice and governance in all that we do.•

1. https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Retail-Sales-Worldwide-Will-Top-22-Trillion-This-Year/101172.652. www.agcs.allianz.com/assets/PDFs/risk bulletins/CyberRiskGuide.pdf 3. http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/features/WCMS_075615/lang--en/index.htm

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www.iirsm.org

International Institute of Risk and Safety Management77 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JA United Kingdom

T: +44 (0)20 87419100 W: www.iirsm.org

IIRSM is a charitable company limited by guarantee registered in England and WalesCharity Reg. No. 1107666 Company Reg. No. 5310696 VAT No. 153 909 104