ON COOhort Roundtable: How do I manage organisational risk as the COO?
As promised, this year we're turning our COOhort meetups into COOhort Roundtables, where any COO (or person in a similar role, as the most senior ops person in your company) can submit their current challenges for group discussion. If you're interested in hosting your own roundtable, read our guide here.
This time, the topic was proposed by Angela Bradbury, COO of the Cooperative AI Foundation, and we'll be discussing how we manage organisational risk in our respective companies. As the COO, you're often the most senior person in the organisation who both has a helicopter view of all of the context and plans, and will also be on the hook for potential downsides. This can be a uniquely valuable, yet also frustrating & lonely position - but luckily, we've got a whole community of people in the same boat. 💜
⏰ Agenda
5:00 - 5:15 pm - Welcome and kicking off with topic introduction 👋
5:15 - 6:00 pm - Discussion in small groups 💬
Intros: A quick go-round for each person to introduce yourselves and describe (1) an example of risk management you've struggled with, and (2) your top learning around balancing risk and opportunity (which may or may not be related to that example)
Discussion:
How do you keep track of risks - do you have a risk register with quantitative assessments, for example? Or is it less formal?
How do you get your CEO and other Exec Team members to take risks seriously, like compliance, cultural impacts and cashflow, when they've got their sights set on, say, a growth opportunity?
How do you decide whether to just monitor the risk, vs taking preventative or mitigating action?
How do you protect yourself emotionally, when you might feel like you're the one carrying all the organisational risk?
6:00 - 6:30 pm - Share key takeaways with the other groups 💡
Have more questions you'd like to add? Submit them via the registration form above. 📝
✅ Who is this roundtable for?
This is the roundtable for you if:
You're the most senior operations person in your organisation.
You want to hear true "war stories" about risk management, and share your own in return.
You want practical tips and advice from fellow COOs (or similar level) and share your own wisdom.
You want to walk away feeling supported, understood, and recharged to fight your own risk management battles.
⚠ Who is this roundtable not for?
In order to create a safe space where the most senior ops folks can discuss sensitive topics and vulnerably share their experiences, we ask that you only register for COOhort roundtables if your role matches the above description.
We'll share the key takeaways with the entire community after the event. 💡
