Back to school this week. What does that have to do with managing risk?

👉 Best practice

👉 New regulators

👉 Sharing knowledge

Bear with me…

Best practice vs. reality

Schools issue lists of everything your kids will need before the new term. No doubt, it’s borne of experience, but it also assumes a “median pupil.” Our two are not median.

1️⃣ One has an, at best, cavalier attitude to personal hygiene (in their words, “Getting ready for the Zombie Apocalypse”) and a fleeting passion for EVERY extracurricular activity.

2️⃣ The other I sometimes call Bart [Simpson], as they wear the same clothes daily, keeping them fastidiously tidy. American Psycho levels.

Best practice lists never survive 1️⃣’s enthusiastic commitment to playtime parkour. But, similarly, the enrolment in 347 clubs (all requiring “kit”) would stray well beyond the confines of a list (and our budget). The interest in these clubs, from experience, wanes, with maybe 2-3 surviving.

There are parallels here with organisations facing the daunting prospect of complying with “best practice” guidance accompanying the conveyor belt of regulation. Complying with lists (school or regulator) will depend on what you do, how, and with whom. Maybe consider:

👉 Using cost-effective (e.g., second-hand) stuff when you’re in a move-fast-and-break-things culture. Adaptability is key when you never know what will fit or what ideas stick.

👉 Repurpose things – the list may say you need different things (regs) for different activities (sport shoes or managing third-party corruption, sanctions, sustainability, etc. risks), but there’s normally more overlap than dissonance.

👉 If “best practice” seems excessive for your needs and risk appetite, it probably is. So, stay clean, and lists become less relevant.

“I’m in charge”

GAPS: Last year’s French teacher’s penchant (pun intended) for nouns and vocab lists will hopefully be complemented by a focus on verbs this year, but there’s no guarantee. Similarly, we can hope that regulators might define what “risk assessment” means, but…

OPACITY: Last year, a music teacher gave my daughter a low grade despite her being asked to do the end-of-year singing solo. She was perplexed. We emailed the teacher, asking for a meeting to understand better. A long while later, the teacher agreed to meet and explain and then offered no explanation. She felt that the grade was fair based on her secret methodology.

INCONSISTENCY: Corruption (or other regulatory) “purges” can be like PE class. The team selection process reeks of favouritism and punishes those with the least resources.

In these settings, maybe we can:

👉 Read around the subject, see what others do, and seek additional support.

👉 Gather inputs from others in the regulator (music department), canvas friends and other trusted advisors for their experiences.

👉 Assess and understand the connections, drivers, and pressures the “captains” face, and align our interests (ethically) with theirs.

Sharing is caring

As parental WhatsApp groups explode into life, cultivating peer relationships across industries can help reduce risk. Yes, we need to be careful of sharing sensitive information. Like mistakenly letting the parents of one of my son’s classmates know we often work from home. Not everyone shares equally. But, in these settings, remember this quote:

“A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.” Tim Ferriss

But most people are good and fair. There will be:

👉 Those who dealt with regulator/teacher X or Y in past lives.

👉 Those trialling different tools and techniques (training to assessment).

👉 And those with experience in managing the risks you seek to avoid.

I’d be utterly stumped were it not for the network around me (including you). Cultivating a network has never been more important (parenting and regulatory risk). The goalposts constantly shift, and the environments differ from those we grew up in.

Which of these three areas is your biggest challenge?