With vast experience of delivering talent and project consultancy solutions globally to the world’s largest energy organisations, Steve has an exceptional depth of understanding of doing business in the most challenging of locations. Having been accountable to deliver global recruitment and business development strategies, he has implemented innovative ideas to improve group performance and profitability. He has experience of leading tenders for some of the largest contracts in the recruitment industry and his commercial awareness and negotiation skills are excellent.

Steve is a very outgoing person with excellent communication skills, has always enjoyed being part of a successful team, and founded Cheshire Solutions in 2022.

Areas of Expertise:

Recruitment
Business Development
Project Delivery
Leadership and People Management
Commercial negotiations
Compliance and Operations

1.    Establish the Context

Prior to discussing risks themselves, it is important to layout the boundaries of the conversation. The business case, technical scope, cost, schedule, contracting strategy, organisation, etc. will be clearly documented and presented to the project team. It is within these constraints that the following steps of Risk Management can be taken.

2.    Identify

CS identify risks process seeks to identify the risks to be managed using a well-structured, systematic process. This process specifies what can happen, where and when, and why and how. At this stage in the overall framework, the primary concern is to identify as many risks to achieving the business objectives as possible, the source of the risks, and the impacts. This list is preliminary and subject to further qualification and refinement as part of the Analyse Risks process. The idea is to cast a wide net at the start in Identify Risks, and then to progressively narrow the list to the most critical, using qualitative techniques in Analyse Risks.

The primary activity in this stage is to hold a brainstorming session as a part of a Risk Review. After the initial Risk Review, it would be typical to only update the Risk Register and not to hold new brainstorming sessions unless a significant new development occurs (addition of a new piece of scope, new contractors, etc.).     

The Risks will be categorised into Technical / Environmental / Commercial / Organisational and Political Risks (TECOP)                               

3.    Analyse

CS Analyse Risks process involves consideration of the source of the risk, the magnitude of their positive and negative consequences and the likelihood that those consequences may occur. Existing controls and treatment activities are taken into consideration.

Each risk identified during the Identify Risks process is subjected to a qualitative evaluation of its likelihood and impact using predefined scales (Risk Assessment Matrix or RAM). The list of risks is then narrowed and refined based on the criticality of the risk. Those risks falling below a defined threshold may continue to be monitored and managed.

After the initial screening process using qualitative techniques, a determination will be made regarding how accurate the estimates of likelihood and impact must be in order to be useful for prioritising, measuring and reporting the risk and for choosing between risk treatment options.

The result of this process is that each risk receives a risk rating (a function of the assigned Likelihood and Impact values). All the risks will then be reported, possibly in tabular and/or visual format, which visually displays the risks in areas of higher and lower priority.

4.    Integrate/Evaluate

CS Integrate Risks process involves aggregating all risk rankings, reflecting correlations across the project, and expressing the results in terms of the impact on the project as a whole. The objective of this process is to produce a list of prioritised risks for treatment.

The Evaluate Risks process uses the understanding of risk obtained by risk analysis to rank and prioritise risks in order to make decisions about risk treatment. It is too expensive to conduct detailed analysis and treat all risks. Decision-makers need to know which of their risks are most critical and prioritise accordingly. Usually, risk managers find that the treatment of a few critical risks results in dramatic reductions in residual risk, whereas the treatment of each following risk results in nominal reductions in residual risk. Ranking the risks to facilitate this analysis in Treat Risks is important.

5.    Mitigate

To Mitigate Risks, CS process involves identifying the range of options to mitigating risks, assessing those options, and preparing and implementing treatment plans.

Mitigating risks is about seizing opportunities as it is about minimising the downside. Too much treatment is as undesirable as too little. The objective is to find the right balance to optimise returns to the business by maximising gains from the opportunities while minimising losses from the risks. Evaluation of the downside risk involves consideration of non-financial as well as financial impacts. For example, the risk of loss of life or damage to the environment or enterprise reputation may override purely financial considerations when selecting risk treatment options.

This process incorporates qualitative and quantitative information about residual risk and treatment activities into the budget planning. In this way, the project can make informed strategic decisions about how to allocate capital to various areas to ensure that risk management efforts are being tied with strategic objectives.

6.    Monitor/Review

CS Monitor and Review process involves learning lessons from the risk management process, by reviewing events, the treatment plans and their outcomes. Monitoring provides routine surveillance of actual performance for comparison with expected or required performance. Review involves periodic investigation of the current situation, usually with a specific focus.

Monitoring and reviewing is an essential and integral part of managing risk and is one of the most important steps of the risk management process. It is necessary to monitor risks, the effectiveness and appropriateness of the strategies and management systems set up to implement risk treatments and the risk management plan and system as a whole.

Assurance and monitoring processes should be continuous and dynamic. It is not sufficient to rely on occasional, third-party reviews and audits.