By Blandine CORDIER-PALASSE, Revue RH&M, n°67
"In business, it's all about risk and reward: strategy and risk are two sides of the same coin. In our business, strategic discussions very quickly turn into risk conversations" Peter Harmer, CEO of IAG.
The geopolitical changes and technological revolutions your companies are facing are shaking up behaviour, business models and legislative and regulatory environments. With this in mind, thinking like Peter Harmer by putting risk management and profit management (financial or otherwise) on an equal footing is a strategy for the future.
What's more, the challenges of CSR, innovation - sometimes disruptive - cyber security, M&A and strategic alliances, as well as the actions of competitors, etc., are bringing to light risks - and also opportunities - that have a real impact on your strategy.
Successful companies have understood that they can rely on their legal, risk and compliance departments to meet these challenges. The aim is to provide practical, secure support in defining and deploying their strategy, taking a global view of extra-financial risks as well as financial ones. In some companies, depending on their maturity, these three roles are concentrated in a single department.
But does the organisation rely sufficiently on these functions?
In reality, nothing is less certain.
How do you get there? By appointing a qualified legal director to participate in risk management and compliance. He or she is closely involved in strategic thinking and innovation, intervening at a very early stage in projects to assess, accept and manage risk. And beyond that, to know how to reject or transfer it to better serve the company's strategy. To seize opportunities that create value. Actively contributing to transforming risk into competitive opportunity and advantage.
It is also clear that the most successful organisations today are those that have succeeded in transforming their legal function into a genuine risk management function. It also plays a part in creating value for the organisation, as a strategist, catalyst, guardian, conductor and communicator.
As a result, they have become more agile.
So that everyone becomes capable of identifying and managing risks with a view to both compliance and achieving strategic and business objectives. So that the organisation can project itself safely into the future. To identify risks and opportunities and define the various future plans for responding to them.
HR plays a role in this transformation of the job. Indeed, by raising awareness in Comex, defining appropriate job descriptions and instilling this culture. This teamwork within the company will give him the strategic protection he needs to be a strong leader. And it will enable them to manage risks and rewards from the same front. We have a long history of helping today's leaders to remain leaders tomorrow. Ultimately, our passion is to advise you on how best to position or organise these directions.
BLANDINE CORDIER-PALASSE
After working as a lawyer at Slaughter & May and then as a legal director in listed groups (Parfinance, Gemplus and Siparex), Blandine Cordier-Palasse turned to human capital. She was a partner at Boyden before setting up BCP Executive Search, specialising in legal, tax, compliance and communications. She also holds a doctorate in law and is co-founder and Vice-President of the Cercle de la Compliance.
