Category:

Recommended

Description and Purpose:

This is a tool for carrying out a risk analysis on your strategy or action plan.

Method:

Preparation:
Provide participants in advance with copies of your draft strategy or action plan, and any important documents about your external environment (e.g. PESTLE), internal organization (e.g. SWOT) and the plans of your opponents and competitors.

Ask them to examine your draft strategy or action plan and consider any potential risks or threats (using both the documentation and their own knowledge and experience).

Meeting:
As a group, brainstorm any risks or threats that could jeopardize your plan using ‘Post It’ slips.

Then, group and categorize these – first according to whether they are ‘internal’ or ‘external’ risks. Then discuss what steps you could take to mitigate the risks, either by changing your plan or integrating the risks into this plan. Agree in the full meeting any serious risks that would mean your plan needs to be changed.

Next, break into two groups – one to consider ‘internal’ risks and one to consider ‘external’ risks. Each group should be asked to group and categorize the risks, entering them on the table below, together with their thoughts on the action to be taken to mitigate these risks.

Then, each group should report back to the main meeting with its recommendations. The other group should then critique their analysis and suggestions, and add any agreed changes.

Risks Possible threat	Probability Likelihood of occurring (1=low, 5=high)	Importance (1=low, 5=high)	Total Risk Level (importance x likelihood)	Mitigation Steps to mitigate
Internal risks
External risks