AIRMIC: vertical dialogue the route to success

Management should encourage greater dialogue within their company if it is to effectively identify and deal with risk.

That is the view expressed in AIRMIC’s latest report, Roads to Resilience, which says that companies need to avoid a siloed approach to risk. The report said that some of the most successful companies were those whose management mingled freely with staff and that encouraged staff to “pass on their knowledge and views (even bad news!) to senior management”.

In its previous annual report, AIRMIC had identified ‘risk glass ceilings’ as a major risk facing companies internationally, with open and frank dialogue within the company helping to act as an invaluable risk radar.

John Hurrell, CEO of AIRMIC said “board members need to lead the way, not by lecturing their people but through example and connecting with them, by being approachable and willing to listen”.