Risk awards – Airmic members triumph at IRM ceremony, as we take a closer look at how risk is handled by one successful global company.

Airmic members featured in the recent Institute of Risk management awards. Our congratulations to EDF Energy who (with ARMSA Consulting) won ‘risk management solution of the year’, to Lloyd’s Register, Zurich and Willis (‘partnership of the year’) and to IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) for the ‘building risk management capability’ award.

IHG’s SVP Head of Global Risk Management is Airmic board member John Ludlow. His company featured as one of eight case studies in Roads to Resilience. An edited extract of their entry is set out below:  

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has invested a lot of time and effort in defining a structure that ensures risk management is embedded throughout the organisation. To quote their 2012 annual report, “IHG recognises the importance of having in place an effective system of internal controls and risk management to achieve our vision of becoming one of the great companies in the world. Our Board and Committees work together with senior management to identify, assess, prioritise and mitigate risks.”

IHG aims to raise risk awareness at the Board, the Executive Committee, throughout the leadership teams in the regions and functions, in every hotel and with all employees. The various processes for dealing with risk are applied across three levels: strategic; tactical; and operational.

The understanding of risk is intricately linked to reputation. To quote the annual report again: “The purpose of risk management is to champion and protect the trusted reputation of IHG and its brands.”

The Risk management department employs subject-matter experts in areas such as safety, security, fraud, business continuity management and risk financing. The team provides risk management leadership and seeks to embed capability through developing ‘tools to do the job’ (e.g. e-learning, checklists and guidelines), support and oversight. The ambition is to foster a culture where risk management becomes instinctive.

Risk governance is established through a cross-function working party that meets four times a year and is chaired by the General Counsel and Company Secretary.  Risk information is constantly collected, communicated and assessed; the output is used to drive discussions at the Executive Committee, Audit Committee and Board.

 Through having risks identified and plans to deal with situations already in place, IHG has developed an ability to deal with unexpected situations. Training and informal discussion groups are used and crisis management scenario planning sharpens the culture. IHG have developed risk awareness, a structure and a culture that allows information to flow freely.

John Ludlow - InterContinental Hotels Group