RMs Must Communicate To Advance

Management must be educated about exposures, loss controloptions

Any risk manager seeking to advance their career must capturethe notice of top management by communicating insurance and losscontrol proposals clearly and concisely up and down theorganization, a panel of their risk management peers warn.

This was just one key piece of advice a panel of risk managersoffered to their compatriots during a session on career advancementheld in Philadelphia during the Risk and Insurance ManagementSociety's annual conference last month.

The discussion on “Career Insights Even Ben Franklin Would GetCharged Up About” featured three risk managers discussing theirexperiences and offering tips on how to go about advancing acareer.

Gary Kilburg, assistant treasurer, risk management for WhirlpoolCorp., based in the company's administrative center in BentonHarbor, Mich., said that while working hard and spending long hourswill gain notice for a risk manager, management is most impressedby someone who can boil technical data–especially about esotericinsurance issues–down to something simple and “managementfriendly.”

“[Management] may be adept at what their business is, but theywant you to make [insurance and risk management] simple,” heobserved. “This is especially true because upper management has somuch on its plate.”

Christopher E. Mandel, assistant vice president of enterpriserisk management for USAA in San Antonio, Texas, offered oneexperience he had that he said damaged his reputation in the eyesof his chief financial officer for a time at a company where he hadonce worked.

Mr. Mandel, a past president of RIMS, said he once arranged todiscuss some risk issues with the chief financial officer andwalked in with a 30-page briefing for a one-hour meeting. Shortlyinto the meeting, he realized that what the CFO was looking for wasnot a detailed analysis of the situation but a briefing thatsummarized what needed to be done. The meeting damaged the CFO'sconfidence in him and, he confessed, it took time to recover thatconfidence.

“It's good to show that you know your business,” heobserved.

Mr. Mandel noted that risk managers need to understand “who thestakeholders are in the process. Every stakeholder has issues inrisk management. Make sure you understand their interest and thatthey are not left out of the process. Get them involved.”

“You must find your role in the process,” he continued. “Youhave to ask, 'How do I contribute to the results my company wantsto see.'”

Panel moderator Michael Tannenbaum, president of Key Strategies,LLC, in East Hanover, N.J., a risk management recruiter andconsultant, noted that presenting an executive summary tomanagement should be seen as an opportunity to share ideas and showthat the risk manager knows their business.

“If you can pare down the issue to a couple of highlights, itshows that you did a lot of work to put that position papertogether,” he said.

Risk managers need to make themselves available to all levels ofmanagement, noted Mr. Kilburg. They should be discussing risks withother executives, engaging them in a dialogue about their business,and thinking through the exposures and loss control challengestheir departments face.

Such regular dialogues will help fully integrate risk managementinto the daily thought processes of every department head, whileraising the risk manager's profile and enhancing their value to thecompany, he added.

Pointing out risks to top management helps them understand thatcontaining exposures involves more than just buying insurance, andstarts them thinking about ways to reduce loss potential, heexplained.

Essentially, what risk managers need to do is to establishcredibility in the eyes of top- and middle-management, henoted.

The confidence an organization has in its risk manager comesdown to the quality of communication, according to Mr. Kilburg. Heexplained that organizations have problems when they don't haveeffective internal dialogues. Risk managers need to so thoroughlyunderstand their business, in fact, that they can credibly explainit to managers when discussing exposures, he added.

Since many corporations are so fluid, merging with and/oracquiring other firms regularly, risk managers need to understandthe different cultures they might be aligned with, and thepolitical implications of an integration with a new company, warnedDavid E. Arick, director of global insurance risk for InternationalPaper out of Memphis, Tenn.

In some cases, in fact, department rivalries can resemble turfwarfare, he said. As organizations go through these changes, a riskmanager needs to learn who can be trusted to give the rightinformation.

“It can be a political process,” he observed. A risk managerneeds to see which relationships work out and be adaptable. “Keepyour options open and understand who supports you and who does not,and know who you can rely on,” he advised.

As to ways education, degrees, designations and experience canhelp a risk manager advance a career, the general consensus wasthat no single bit of experience or education was more meaningfulthan another.

Mr. Tannenbaum noted, however, that the value of obtaining anMBA helps to open doors and gives a job seeker a “strongercompetitive edge.”

While agreeing that a degree is helpful to open doors, Mr.Kilburg argued that ultimately it is the risk manager's ability totackle problems that leads to their ultimate advancement. “I likesomeone who can think in broader business terms,” he said.

No matter how much experience an individual might have, notedMr. Arick, it is essential that a risk manager has an ARMdesignation before determining a career path.

Where a risk manager's career begins is of little consequence,said the panel, noting the diversity of each of their own earlypositions. What is essential, Mr. Arick said, is that risk managersthink about where they want to go and that they map a plan toachieve those goals.

Caption for bullhorn art:

Risk managers must make their case loud and clear, while boilingdown technical data to something simple so key managers can graspthe program quickly and easily.

“You must find your role in the process. You have to ask, 'Howdo I contribute to the results my company wants to see.'”

Christopher E. Mandel

Former RIMS President