APPENDIX D

Industry Roundtable Summary

Contents

Objective

Background

Participants

Common Themes

Key Content—Prioritization

Recap and Key Takeaways

Objective

The objective of this summary is to demonstrate that an industry roundtable was carried out on February 16, 2023; to describe the process and methods used to conduct the roundtable; and to document important findings.

Background

The NCHRP Project 08-151 research team conducted an interactive industry roundtable to obtain information on how participants built and sustained a risk management program within their agencies. Participants came from a range of U.S. regions as well as other nations and represented all modes of transportation and related sectors. The participants were industry professionals engaged in strategic-enterprise risk management, program-/project-level risk management, asset management, and communications to determine the barriers and constraints of incorporating formal risk management into decision-making at all levels of their organization. This roundtable provided an opportunity to ask the “hows” and to listen to see if there were specific tools, promotions, communication, or content that appeared to be similar or used the most in building and sustaining risk management. Findings from the roundtable were considered as the research team proceeded through the rest of the project tasks.

Initial findings regarding what agencies have done, lessons learned, and successes were identified in the practitioners survey (Task 2) and targeted literature review and gap assessment (Task 3). The industry roundtable aimed to reaffirm those findings as well as add to those findings by exploring additional areas and elements related to communication, value-add, promotion, culture shifts, resources, and integration. Discussion was focused on informing the development of high-impact, solution-oriented content for the AASHTO Transportation Management Hub. The objectives of the industry roundtable were to

1. Gain insights and examples of concrete, actionable products and content on how to build a risk management program within an agency.
2. Gain insights and examples of concrete, actionable products and content on how to sustain a risk management program within an agency.
3. Gain insights on what content could be developed and posted on the AASHTO Transportation Management Hub to help state agencies build and sustain risk management within their DOTs.

To provide the groundwork, the research team started the roundtable with introductions of the participants to learn more about their level of maturity in risk management before launching into detailed discussions about building and sustaining risk management.

Participants

A total of 29 attendees from across the world including 10 states and 5 countries participated in the industry roundtable. They are listed in Table 2.

The participants represented geographic diversity from North America and Europe, as demonstrated in Figures 7 and 8.

Technical Platform

The industry roundtable was conducted virtually, using Microsoft Teams and a Mural digital whiteboard for collaboration. Methods of interaction with participants included the following:

• Full-group videoconference discussion in Teams.
• Full-group or private chat threads in Teams.

Table 2. Participants in the industry roundtable.

• Breakout rooms in Teams when smaller groups were required.
• Virtual “sticky notes” in Mural where participants would double-click to create a note and type as desired. Sticky notes were also moved as needed on the page.
• Polling in Mural as “votes” were recorded by clicking on sticky notes to indicate a preference or priority order of the content on the sticky note.

The research team developed the industry roundtable technique through discussion with the NCHRP Project 08-151 panel, including the date, time, participants, and platform. The research team created and developed leading questions to ensure a deep and broad understanding of the various practices and processes used by the participants.

Common Themes

The research team led a discussion about how the participants built and sustained risk management within their agency. Major themes and insights included the following:

• Leadership support is paramount. Without leadership advocating for and supporting the adoption of risk management within the organization, it will likely fail.
• A risk management policy is key and can provide the framework to start and keep the risk management conversation going. Policy requirements can add meaning to implementation methods.

• There is no single methodology for building and sustaining risk management; decisions must be tailored to an organization’s culture and timeline.
• Early and ongoing training is crucial to mitigate turnover and create institutionalized knowledge.
• Organizations should be structured with top-down and bottom-up communication and support with a culture of risk that encourages discussions about risk.
• Building risk management into recurring processes and tools allows agencies not to have to rely on leadership to sustain them.
• Looking beyond what people/staff are comfortable with and starting to consider potential disruptions with outside insights from stakeholders and thought leaders.
• Discussing lessons learned on small and large scales is important for managing crises or day-today events. This approach should be more than just postmortems of events, but more robust conversations around anticipating the right risks and what they would do differently in the future.
• Risk should be incorporated into all aspects of an agency and job descriptions.
• Sustaining risk management must be a coordinated effort that can take longer than some may expect. Risk management is a journey, not a destination.

• Having the same “ground truth” of what a risk assessment means and what is failure.
• Using the common denominator of money when portraying and communicating risk to external audiences.

Advice for Building Risk Management Culture

The industry professionals participating in the roundtable discussion included DOT representatives within the United States, international representatives, and other transportation industry representatives. While all of them are considered experts in their respective fields, their agencies have different levels of risk management experience, as seen in Figure 9. Some are currently building a risk management practice, others have built the practice but are working on sustaining it, and the rest have successfully sustained the practice.

Based on the industry experts’ experiences, the research team asked them for one piece of advice they would give someone who wants to build a risk management culture within their agency or organization. Table 3 details a summary of responses from the industry participants when asked about advising on building a risk management culture.

Building Risk Management Discussion

For a 25-minute discussion, the industry professionals were split into four groups of five to seven participants each. The research team developed four topics to encourage deeper conversation about their strategies and tactics to build risk management within their agency. The topics

Table 3. Advice for building risk management culture from industry professionals.

were the same for each group but discussed in varying orders to ensure varied responses across the industry roundtable. Those topics included the following:

• Culture of Risk/Organizational Change
• Business Processes
• Communication and Promotion/Value Proposition
• Data and Tools/Quantification of Risk

Discussion about the culture of risk and organizational change can be found in Table 4. The following are examples of a few questions the participants were asked:

• Has management made your organization’s risk tolerance clear?
• How did risk management change the culture of your agency? Or did the culture of your agency change first, and risk management followed? Were there materials used or was it policy and leadership direction?

Discussions about business processes can be found in Table 5. The following are examples of questions participants were asked:

• What business processes in your organization have incorporated elements of risk and uncertainty into decision-making?
• What helped to integrate risk into the daily business processes within your agency?

Discussions about communication and promotion/value proposition can be found in Table 6. The following are examples of questions participants were asked:

• How did you communicate risk management internally?
• How did your organization annunciate a strong value proposition for risk management? How was it developed and communicated?

Discussions about data and tools/quantification of risk can be found in Table 7. The following are examples of questions participants were asked:

• How do you quantify risk within your agency?
• What tools for measuring risk has your agency used? In-house tables/spreadsheets? Purchased solutions?

Table 4. Participant discussion on building culture of risk/organizational change.

Table 5. Participant discussion on building business processes.

Table 6. Participant discussion on building communication and promotion/value proposition.

Table 7. Participant discussion on building data and tools/quantification of risk.

Advice for Sustaining Risk Management Practices and the Culture of Risk Management

Each of the industry professionals participating in the roundtable has their own unique experiences when it comes to building and sustaining risk management. The research team wanted to better understand what significant advice they could offer to sustain the practice and culture of risk management. Participants were asked to describe one lesson they have learned in how to sustain the practice and culture of risk management. Table 8 details a summary of participant responses when asked about advice and lessons learned to sustain risk management practice.

Sustaining Risk Management Discussion

For a 25-minute discussion, the industry professionals were split into four groups of five to seven participants. Like the building discussion, the research team centered their questions and discussion around the four core topics to encourage deeper conversation about their strategies and tactics to sustain risk management within their agency. Those topics included the following:

• Culture of Risk/Organizational Change
• Business Processes
• Communication and Promotion/Value Proposition
• Data and Tools/Quantification of Risk

Table 8. Lessons learned to sustain the practice and culture of risk management from industry professionals.

Discussions about the culture of risk and organizational change can be found in Table 9. The following are examples of questions participants were asked:

• How have you sustained the culture of risk within your agency?
• How to ensure the knowledge of and passion for risk management is being sustained (training, knowledge management)?

Discussions about business processes can be found in Table 10. The following are examples of questions participants were asked:

• How have you ensured the business processes in your organization that incorporate risk and uncertainty are sustained, regardless of leadership?
• How have you ensured there are adequate resources and/or staff to sustain a risk management program? What are those staffing levels?

Discussions about communication and promotion/value proposition can be found in Table 11. The following are examples of questions participants were asked:

• How have you created “trust” with your stakeholders, the media, etc. so when you talk about risk management, they believe you? How have you sustained that trust?
• How do you communicate about risk factors, hazards, and uncertainties in your organization?

Discussions about data and tools/quantification of risk can be found in Table 12. The following are examples of questions participants were asked:

Of the data and tools that your organization uses to quantify risk management,

• How many are being refined and improved regularly or continuously?
• Are there any being tolerated until management looks away or political winds change?

Table 9. Participant discussion on sustaining a culture of risk/organizational change.

Table 10. Participant discussion on sustaining business processes.

Table 11. Participant discussion on sustaining communication, and promotion/value proposition.

Table 12. Participant discussion on sustaining data and tools/quantification of risk.

Key Content—Prioritization

The research team walked the industry roundtable participants through a prioritization polling process. The team created a poll containing suggestions of key content an agency might need to build a risk management program within their organization. The research team asked if anything was missing, and the participants offered additional key content. Then, the research team asked the participants to prioritize what key content would be the most important. The top four (4) key items recommended by the risk management professionals to build a risk management program were as follows:

1. Begin to integrate risk management into existing processes and at all levels of the organization.
2. Create a spreadsheet-based risk assessment and mitigation tool that is easy for staff to use.
3. Develop a risk management roadmap.
4. Provide training, early and ongoing, regarding risk management definition and processes.

The research team followed the same methodology and asked the industry professionals to rank and prioritize the top four (4) key items to sustain a risk management program. Those top recommendations were as follows:

1. Identify new opportunities of risk and assess those more systematically/comprehensively until they become part of the business process.
2. Build and integrate risk management in all recurring processes and tools.
3. Create standard operating procedures to institutionalize risk management within the agency.
4. Engage leadership’s commitment to risk management but do not rely on them to sustain it, have it become the “normal practice” and part of the culture.

Recap and Key Takeaways

The research team recapped all the insights and information provided during the industry roundtable and thanked the risk management professionals for participating. The following week, the research team sent an email of appreciation to each risk management professional who gave their time to help inform this research effort.

After review and contemplation of the industry roundtable, the research team opined on these key takeaways:

• Definitions and clarity are paramount—everyone within the agency must understand and “speak the same language” as it pertains to risk management.
• Development of a policy is key as it gives the framework for critical conversations.
• Training and consistent reminders of risk management help mitigate turnover and knowledge management.
• Open communication about risk and risk management, so that it is not seen as a topic that is discussed only in a crisis.
• Create a standard operating procedure to ensure business processes integrate risk but also leave enough agility to allow staff to be inventive.
• Create templates, dashboards, and other tools to assist in postmortem analysis.

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