When I was a kid, we were taught to look both ways before crossing the road. When my kids were young, they were taught to look and listen. With the arrival of electric and hybrid cars, and in some areas an influx of high pace e-bikes, listening for engines is no longer enough to warn us of oncoming vehicles. These days we also need to teach adults to look up from their phones!

But road safety is not what I’m on about. It is merely representative of the changes we are seeing in our societies, our lifestyles and our businesses.

Business owners take risks all the time.

Starting a business is a risk. Each business decision made has some form of risk associated with it. Will we make or lose money? Will our customers love or hate this? Will this be worth the effort? Will this person enhance our organisation?

I can’t stop you taking risks and I don’t want to. I just want to make sure you look both ways before you cross the road. I’m not even going to make you walk up to the pedestrian crossing! But now that we can’t hear those EVs coming, it requires some extra senses to detect the trends that might wipe you out.

Risk Workshops help plan for the best and the worst.

A risk workshop can be that sense of hearing that picks up the high pitch whine of an electric motor instead of a petrol engine. It can be the difference between a strategy to cross the road using a bridge or a tunnel.

Companies typically run risk workshops annually at the organisation level, and for every major project or change that is planned. Entrepreneurs may worry this will slow them down, but it can eliminate confusion and provide alignment with the team when done well.

Risk management is one piece of the puzzle that is a Future Fit organisation. Linked with strategic planning it can provide enlightenment and alignment, and may be the difference between failure and success. Have you embedded it into your business management?