Learning to See Around Corners for Risk Management

“Risk reduction is at our very core,” said moderator R.J. Steenstra, President & CEO, Fort McMurray Airport Authority, at the Managing Changing Risks in Aviation session on Tuesday.  And the key to risk management is staying ahead of the curve—and being able to see around corners, he said. Seem impossible? Maybe. But there are ways to predict both the unknown and known risks a little bit better if you’ve done some research.

That was the case with speaker Michael J. Landguth, President & CEO, Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority, who referenced a Duke University survey to help illustrate where he came up with “human capital” as the greatest emerging risk challenge. The survey pointed to the difficulty in hiring and retaining qualified employees. Raleigh-Durham has since taken a proactive approach to mitigating this risk by “fielding the team” on a daily basis, raising wage rates, extensive training of new hires, providing scholarships, incorporating flexible work schedules and conducting an employee-wide comp analysis. Finding and funding are the two biggest risk challenges, he said.

Monica Lombraña, Managing Director of Aviation and International Bridges, El Paso International Airport, pointed to technology as the greatest challenge when it comes to risk management. The risks that have occurred are sometimes ones we never thought of and sometimes one we never even knew could occur, she said. “Trying to plan for something you aren’t aware of is very difficult.” She also concurred that funding plays a part in this, too, and “not having enough funding to be able to address all the different types of risks that are out there.”

Risk management ideas presented included: strategic planning sessions that include not just your executive staff but your first line supervisors; working with the FBI for joint vulnerability assessments; meeting with employees and putting the plans in terms they can understand, looking at the fine print in your insurance policy to make sure it gives you the coverages you need, especially related to cybersecurity; developing an ERM checklist; and quantifying the risks. “If you don’t quantify your risks, you cannot quantify your metrics… and what magnitude of impact that risk might have,” said Steenstra.