Risk creep - How risky behaviour spreads

I’ve done a couple of posts recently that highlight the importance of understanding behaviour and how critical it is to risk management within organisations – I am strong of the view that understanding this connection will only serve to enhance risk management culture and practices.

This article by the Harvard Business Review reflects on the concept of “risk creep”. That is, where there is a growing tolerance of risky behaviour that can be influenced by near misses or where incidents might have had the potential to cause negative impacts, but purely by chance did not.

Organisations need to understand the spread of risk taking through both social learning and from experiential learning (trial and error), and how they could impact employees’ behaviour in the context of risk management or risk-based decisions. Where risky behaviour does not result in negative outcomes, how does this impact future decisions?

“The lesson for companies is, in a nutshell: Beware of close calls. If someone does something risky, whether intentionally or not, and things turnout alright, they’ll be more likely to do it again”.

Read the full article.