Over the past several years, organizations have faced unprecedented challenges and uncertainties. In response, many were able to adapt to their new risk environment by revisiting the way they do business and placing a greater emphasis on stability and long-term sustainability. This approach elevated risk management as a key enabler for achieving the organization’s goals as enterprises increasingly adopted risk management practices to inform short- and long-term strategies, establish effective engagement with stakeholders, and conduct rigorous scenario-planning.
In the process, the role of the risk professional is beginning to move from that of a risk advisor to more of a trusted strategic business partner. As part of this shift, risk professionals will need to expand their skillset to synthesize complex information and convey it in a manner that is understandable and relevant to a diverse set of stakeholder groups, ranging from boards of directors to frontline staff.
Many risk professionals have benefited from adopting strategic storytelling as a useful communication technique to better engage stakeholders and advance the organization’s risk culture. The following outlines a strategic storytelling framework that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of any risk professional. To help illustrate its applicability, two scenarios commonly encountered by risk professionals will also be discussed in the context of each step of the framework.
PLANNING
The strategic storytelling process begins before you ever engage with stakeholders. During the planning phase of the communication, it is important to identify the purpose, the target audience and the message you intend to convey.
Purpose: Incorporating strategic storytelling as part of a communication plan requires prior reflection on the intended purpose and outcome of the message. Consider the reason for delivering the intended information to the target audience and how storytelling can amplify its reach and impact. Then, determine whether the message is intended to inform or drive action, which communication channels to utilize, and what platforms you will deliver it to. Identifying the intended purpose of storytelling will inform the subsequent techniques that will be required to achieve the intended objective.
Scenario 1: Sharing Information | Scenario 2: Obtaining Approval |
Purpose: For information Channel: In-person and email Platforms: Executive leadership meetings, division leadership meetings | Purpose: Gain approval/agreement Channel: In-person Platforms: Board of directors meetings, executive leadership meetings |
Audience: Identifying the target audience is critical to ensure that the key messages reach the appropriate groups and individuals. You will need to identify and analyze the various groups and individuals impacted by the information. These groups can be internal, such as the organization’s board of directors, leadership or staff, or external, such as vendors or community partners. As part of this process, categorize the stakeholder types (e.g., primary, secondary, tertiary) as this will help define each group’s degree of vested interest and the relationships among these groups and individuals. It will also help inform decisions about the appropriate communication channels to use.
Scenario 1: Sharing Information | Scenario 2: Obtaining Approval |
Target Audience:
| Target Audience:
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Message: Determining the key messages or objectives of the communication plan will help you ensure that you deliver the main points of information to the target audience. Messages should comprise the information, ideas and positions that support achieving the overall goal. Understand and address the unique perspectives, preferences and needs of the various stakeholder groups and tailor the messages accordingly to achieve the intended purpose for each target audience.
Scenario 1: Sharing Information | Scenario 2: Obtaining Approval |
Key Messages
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DELIVERY
Once you have completed the planning process and understand your purpose, audience and message, you can craft your story to deliver information in a way that more effectively engages stakeholders.
Background. To start, establish the context or backdrop of the story. This requires providing information about “what,” “when,” “where,” and “who.” You will need to identify the scenario/issue, provide the context surrounding it, outline the main characters or stakeholders, and explain the degree to which they are impacted. Then, you can address the “why” by articulating the relevance of the scenario/issue and the circumstances arising from it.
Scenario 1: Sharing Information | Scenario 2: Obtaining Approval |
“During the time we have together, I will be sharing an update on the annual risk assessment, which will serve as a key component of the annual risk management plan and the important work that all of you do as executive and division leaders. “As you may recall, the risk assessment was conducted earlier this quarter and involved an extensive process conducted by the risk management team with each of the divisions. As part of this process, we have had detailed discussions with each of the divisions to review their respective risks and assess their likelihood, impact and velocity using a standardized taxonomy and rating scale.” | “The purpose of this meeting is to present the annual risk management plan for the business and seek this group’s approval. “As many of you are aware, the organization establishes an annual plan to guide risk activities across the organization and serves as a key enabler for achieving the organization’s strategic mandate. As part of the process to establish the annual plan, we have worked extensively with each of the divisions across the organization to review their risk profile and establish risk management controls and strategies in alignment with their risk appetite.” |
Action. Once the background has been conveyed, outline the events that have taken place and how they affected the main stakeholders involved. This can include reviewing the challenges and conflicts that led up to an inflection point requiring a significant action or decision to be made by the stakeholders. This progression of events makes the case for the stakeholders to take action or make a decision that balances varying perspectives and values, including their own.
Scenario 1: Sharing Information | Scenario 2: Obtaining Approval |
“Leading up to this point, you will recall that the organization was challenged as it had a decentralized approach to identifying risk throughout the organization. As a result, there was no coordinated approach to engaging stakeholders across the organization and no standardized approach to capture holistic feedback in relation to the risks facing the organization. This often led to confusion and lack of clarity for the risk assessment and the entire risk management program as a whole, which contributed to the lack of buy-in to the risk management program.” | “Over the past several years, you will recall that the organization had a risk management plan in place. While the previous plan had its strengths, it also had flaws as it did not provide the depth and breadth in its approach appropriate to the size and complexity of the organization. As a result, there were often challenges with identifying and addressing risks in the appropriate manner, which led to the uncoordinated deployment of resources to manage risks across the organization, leading to further exposures.” |
Inflection. Once the challenges, conflicts and progression of events have been articulated, you should outline the actions or decisions that have been taken. This is a pivotal moment in the story where key steps and measures are taken in response to the events. Specifically, this can include highlighting the opportunities that were available and steps taken to evaluate the different courses of actions and decisions in pursuit of the desired outcome. It is at this point that the core values of the story (or of the organization itself) are put to the test and placed into action.
Scenario 1: Sharing Information | Scenario 2: Obtaining Approval |
“In response to the challenges associated with the previous approach, we conducted a review of the risk management program, including the risk assessment approach. As part of this, we conducted a review of best practices and benchmarking with peer organizations. We also consulted with each of the business divisions across the organization to obtain feedback on opportunities for improvement.” | “To address the challenges that we experienced with the previous plan, we initiated a comprehensive review of the risk management program, including key services and deliverables such as the annual risk management plan. Through this work, we consulted with external and internal stakeholders to obtain insight and feedback on how we can advance the risk management program.” |
Impact. After conveying the inflection point, the next step is to outline the aftermath, including the direct and indirect impacts to the respective stakeholders. Specifically, you can provide details on the varying perspectives held by the stakeholders toward the actions or decisions that have been taken and the resulting consequences. Additionally, this can include articulating the eventual return to normal or introduction of new challenges or conflicts, which may require further action from the characters/stakeholders in your story.
Scenario 1: Sharing Information | Scenario 2: Obtaining Approval |
“The review provided valuable lessons and insights that served as important input as we looked to improve the risk management program, including the risk assessment process. The steps we took resulted in the establishment and provision of role-based risk management training for individuals and groups across all divisions, development of a standardized risk assessment form and a simple step-by-step process to complete the assessment within each division.” | “The program review provided us with the opportunity to gain new insights on steps we can take to improve the program, services and deliverables. As part of this work, we have been able to strengthen the risk management program, including the adoption of an overall framework that provides guidance to risk management activities across the organization and divisions. In addition, we have taken steps to enhance and streamline our approach in how we identify, assess, monitor and evaluate risks.” |
Resolution. The last part of the story should focus on summarizing results and addressing the current status. Articulate what has changed since taking decisive actions or making decisions in response to the particular scenario or issue. In addition, this step can be used as an opportunity to emphasize key messages, perspectives, actions or decisions made during the story, while sharing some of the lessons learned throughout the story.
Scenario 1: Sharing Information | Scenario 2: Obtaining Approval |
“With your support, we have been able to make strides in improving the risk assessment approach in the organization. This has led to a more effective and efficient approach to identifying the organization’s risks, and it has also allowed us to build a strong foundation for the risk management program that we can build upon moving forward.” | “With the program review and the changes we have been able to make to strengthen the risk management program, we are well-positioned to support the organization to move forward and achieve its strategic mandate. We will be better able to manage risks and opportunities through more informed dialogue and decision-making across the organization.” |
PROVIDING STRATEGIC VALUE
As organizational goals evolve, some risk professionals are taking on a greater strategic role. By incorporating the strategic storytelling framework into their practice, risk professionals can amplify their reach and impact as strategic business partners, advance organizational risk initiatives, and drive meaningful dialogue and informed decision-making that will result in sustained value for their respective organizations.