Engaging stakeholders, influencing people
Phumlani Dyini, group head: enterprise risk management and compliance at Woolworths Holdings Limited, is 2018 Irmsa Awards Risk Manager of the Year, and says a good risk professional needs a thorough understanding of the business and the sector they operate in.
“A risk professional needs to be agile to partner with the full spectrum of co-workers and be a good engager of stakeholders to influencing the way people make choices in the organisation. Much of what a risk professional does is concerned with promoting riskadjusted decision making within the business.”
Dyini has been focused on the risk environment for the past 13 years and says much of his learning and his biggest influences have come from mentors who not only taught him about the job, but influenced his thought process and work ethic.
“Being exposed to the board and senior executive members has been a highly instructive experience that has shifted my perspective of what risk management means to a business,” says Dyini.
Another important influence has been the King reports.
“King has been fundamental in defining and setting the tone in terms of what we need to be doing, not only from a corporate governance perspective, but also risk management.
“The accolades that the King 4 report gets across the globe are well deserved because it really has influenced businesses to align their terms of reference with the report.
“King 4’s recommendations about what should be done from a corporate governance perspective have also shifted the role of the risk professional who has become integral as a result of the need to strengthen risk governance to deal with the complexity related to risk.”
However, Dyini believes that the risk management function has also broadened. “In the past the risk function focused on identifying risks from a box ticking perspective, whereas today the risk professional is challenged to understand how closely linked risk and strategy are in the business.
“I think the next trend will be to consolidate the risk and strategy functions within business, because the two are intricately interlinked.
“The ability to link risk and strategy enables the business to have a forward looking view of risk, which can have a big influence on the direction the company develops, says Dyini. in a fully integrated” manner.
Risk, like reporting, has become a function that operates “Risks have to be understood from environmental, social and corporate governance standpoints as well as financial; and then one also has to appreciate the possible effect of government policy, regulations and legislation.”
Dyini says it is both stimulating and challenging to be working in the risk management environment.