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INSIGHT SPECIALTY CONSULTING

Social Purpose Real Estate

Agenda Introductions  Risk definition  Assessing risk  Risk in partnerships 

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Introduction Raymond Kwong – BC Housing  Simon Davie – Terra Housing  Mandy Hansen – Insight Specialty Consulting 

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Risk Definition 

Merriam – Webster Dictionary: “the possibility that something bad or unpleasant (such as an injury or a loss) will happen” “someone or something that may cause something bad or unpleasant to happen”

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Project Management Institute: “An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives” ISC

Risk For Project Management Significant component to project management  Project management is in many ways the practice of managing risk  Must be willing to face some risk or nothing happens  Risk tolerance levels vary by organization, project type, and exposure 

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Assessing Risk You don’t need to wait for risk to happen  Identification, quantification, and mitigation make you prepared for risks  “Unknown unknowns” are very real  If you have your known risks managed, you are better prepared for the unknowns  Risk workshops are helpful 

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Risk Assessment – Getting Started 

Identify a broad team  Everyone brings a different perspective

Give the team the outline of the workshop and their pre-work well in advance  Gauge your audience 

 Introverts vs extroverts  Strong personalities, bosses, HiPPOs  Include partners and key stakeholders

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Assessing Risk - Identification 

Step 1 – Identify your risks  Get everyone’s perspectives  HR will see different risks than finance

Post-its work well for this exercise  Have everyone write out their risks from their perspective 

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Assessing Risk – Probability and Impact 

Gauging the probability and impact helps in prioritizing risks  Usually low, medium, or high  Can be part of a quantification of risk

contingency for your budget 

Often takes a lot of time in a workshop

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Assessing Risk – Strategies If this risk arises, how will you deal?  What can you do now, what will you do later?  Options: avoid, transfer, mitigate, accept  Risks don’t go away, they get managed  Different groups will have different solutions 

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Assessing Risk – Control Incorporate new risks into the registry  It’s a living document – refer to it, use it, update it often  If you have calculated your risk contingency, update it as risks pass to release allowances from your budget 

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Partnership Risk - Internal Often interpersonal or values based  Differing assumptions and interpretations  Solid legal documents define terms up front  Provide for conflict resolution options with documentation  Make sure financial arrangements are thoroughly detailed 

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Partnership Risk - External Credibility in industry  Perceptions of professionalism  Third party accountability  Decision making models 

 Authority beyond committee

 Consider responsiveness to opportunities

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Partnership Risk - Examples One partner not pulling their weight  One partner loses their funding  One partner has terrible taste in art  One partner making representations without input  One partner loses key staff 

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