Chairman’s Message
OPINION
Building on strengths While the IRM must continue developing the profession, we should all seek to improve our own capabilities, says incoming chair Nicola Crawford
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s 2016 draws to a close and my tenure as Chairman starts, I would like to talk about my vision for the IRM going forward. Under Jose Morago the Institute has grown and developed and we have the highest number of members on record. At our recent AGM we reported a surplus. Although we are in a strong position, we as an Institute must develop not only the strategic risk management capability of the industry but also of ourselves. In these turbulent times of Brexit, oil price fluctuations, political uncertainty and unrest we must ensure that we are resilient and as an institute provide our members with the tools to be the same. We must be prepared for the opportunities and risks that the current macro-economic climate is providing and ensure we are more stringent in the investment we put into new products and services. We as an Institute are committed to an investment programme which will deliver an enhanced membership experience, including a new website and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to ensure a smoother process and better management information to best serve our members and increase engagement. We are growing internationally; recently we held a very successful series of roadshows and networking events in Africa – we have a strong leadership team looking after the regional groups in Kenya and South Africa and are looking to add additional groups
Winter 2016
in Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. I also recently took part in a roundtable session with Management today (a publication from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) addressing key issues for the risk industry. We can’t assume that everyone knows about risk management. I’ve just come back from a trip to Turkey where I was talking to a business industrial group and leading a seminar on risk management. The first thing they asked me was, “Well, what is risk management and how do we use it?”
We must be prepared for the opportunities and risks that the current macroeconomic climate is providing
This cements my vision on the priorities: developing the risk management profession via our qualifications, training and thought leadership; looking at women in risk and how we develop career pathways, examples of best practice and mentoring for future entrants into the industry; and finally, how, as an Institute, we can develop our own capabilities to ensure we are the voice of risk management – whilst providing value added for our members and the business community as a whole.
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