Risk assessments can be inherently frightening. They often mean opening up your business processes, network, servers, applications, etc in a way that can highlight problems or mistakes. These issues are then shown to the rest of your team, your boss, your board, and maybe an outside party or two. Scary! Take a moment to recognize the why, though, and you’ll find that a risk assessment can provide the metrics to measure your organization against. Prior to undergoing a risk assessment it’s paramount that you convey to your team that the risk assessment is a springboard for improvement, and even better, subsequent risk assessments tell a story of that improvement over time.

Opportunity

Risk assessments should be viewed as opportunities to improve, not as opportunities to dwell upon past mistakes. Projects are rarely, if ever, implemented to perfection and an assessment can really highlight that fact. Improvement towards an ideal implementation of anything can only be attained through iteration. Risk assessments can drive the motivation and the lens of focus towards what needs improvement. These provide the iterative modification

Motivation

You should use a risk assessment as fuel to improve. Improve your infrastructure, security stance, business processes, business continuity plan, etc. Allow yourself to be immersed in the output, meet with your teams and discuss ways to overcome poor results.

Focus

The output from a risk assessment can really provide a fantastic framework which can pull your team onto a common goal. It paints a target on traceable goals for each team member to really work towards, breeding efficiency like only a focused team can.