Since the mid-1990s, risk management has been evolving at a very fast pace. What once could best be described as a collection of technical (insurance buying, financial risk management, health and safety, security) is now understood as a broad, integrative approach geared toward coordinating, focusing and extending these technical areas into a strategically-driven effort to manage all risks.

In recent years, the term risk leadership has emerged as a way to isolate and explain that set of activities within the broader risk management field that deal with the setting of risk policy and strategy, the effective organisation-wide effort to communicate and educate, and the measures necessary to coordinate wide-ranging specialisations and to assure that risk management is practiced in accordance with strategy.

Because the concept of risk leadership is so obviously connected to organisational strategy, governance and compliance concerns, it has become somewhat identified as a director and executive level issue. In EIRM’s view, that identification is mainly correct.

However, risk leadership is (or can be) an aspect of any person’s job. Line managers, shop stewards, sales managers, and supervisors all can identify aspects of their jobs as ‘risk management’. And, in the sense that they too must align their efforts with goals and objectives, communicate effectively, and assure performance, they too are practicing risk leadership.

EIRM’s approach to risk leadership is to address the many facets of risk leadership—its elements that pertain to strategy, governance and compliance, its elements that deal with coordination and communication of organisation-wide efforts, and its proper relationship to practical implementation issues (what we call operational risk management).

How does EIRM seek to play its role in the advancement of risk leadership?

As a knowledge centre, EIRM is committed to gathering and producing information that is useful for risk leaders…including its work in defining and refining risk leadership as a field of study. Additionally, EIRM offers an array of standard educational programmes and customised courses of study in the field of risk management.

Because the institute is attentive to the leadership needs of both directors/executives and managers a different levels, these educational programmes range from very broad managerial courses to technical programmes addressing more specific needs within the field.

And, EIRM even offers an accessible online introductory course for individuals who just need to know a bit about risk management. While ranging from high-level to introductory, all programmes are designed with a specific eye on the relationship of risk leadership to all aspects of risk management.

Our association management work further supports our goals. PRIMO is a risk leadership organisation for public sector chief executives, and the newly launched Society for Risk Leadership intends to extend the leadership discussion across the widest range of public risk issues in Denmark and Scandinavia.

And, finally, EIRM-Consulting undertakes assignments mainly geared toward risk leadership, working primarily with boards, executives and risk officers on the development of risk policy and the implementation of organisation-wide risk management programmes.