Dr Dale Cooper was an invited speaker at the Risk Management Institute of Australasia (RMIA) Conference, held in Adelaide Tarntanya on 8-10 May 2023.

He outlined the evidence that good enterprise risk management (ERM) contributes to better organisational performance, and that good project risk management contributes to better project outcomes.

An extended version of the presentation is available here. This document contains:

• The slides from the presentation
• Many additional slides
• References to sources cited in the presentation.

Earlier material on the value of risk management is available here. This presentation covers aspects of project risk management that were not addressed earlier.

Summary

The evidence shows:

1. Risk management protects value
2. Strong ERM is linked to strong performance
3. Strong ERM is linked to consistent performance
4. ‘Best in class’ companies demonstrate better risk management performance
5. Strong ERM drives good performance (cause and effect)
6. Sound project risk management is associated with better project outcomes

There are strong correlations between good risk management practices and:

• Company performance
• Project performance.

There is evidence of a causal link: good risk management is a driver of good company performance and good project outcomes.

While having some risk management processes is useful, the real benefits come from being good at it.

There may be a virtuous circle in the medium term:

• Effective risk management improves organisational performance
• High performing organisations are better able to execute effective risk management.