How You Can Improve Governance, Risk Management and Compliance Without Destroying Agility

You are bombarded with a range of opinions on theThere are even those who say that the goal of
impact from governance, risk management ormanagement can be to take more risk when risks
compliance systems or processes you arecan be better estimated, planned for and managed.
implementing or maintaining. It will help to think ofA third and possibly middle viewpoint in this discussion
these discussions and even arguments in the threeis that there is a balancing process. Unrestrained
camps below.agility or start-up attitudes can lead to expansion
A first group argues that Sarbanes Oxley,mistakes consuming huge amounts of people and
governance improvement, risk managementfinancial resources. Unrestrained governance or risk
processes and methods or compliance applications killmitigation can turn a company into a faceless
initiative, destroy agility or are prohibitively expensive.bureaucratic driven business, destroying profits, cash
Their preference may be to do the least requiredflow, and employee satisfaction and initiatives.
under what they feel is a necessary evil.All three groups can describe situations supporting
A second group will say that project managementtheir positions. Some of those situations may not be
with senior executive sponsorship strategicallyappropriate to your business. Other cases or aspects
planned and managed can improve those areas ofof them may be very appropriate to your situation.
Sarbanes Oxley, governance improvement, riskWhen you make an effort to honestly listen to all
management processes and methods or compliancethree camps, what ideas do you get to improve your
applications by improving underlying systems, processcompany balance on this issue of corporate
and methods. This then results in more costgovernance, risk management, and compliance
effective and better functioning companies. Theircontinuum while recognizing your corporate culture
preference may be to push for more expansiveand need for flexibility and agility?
systems as doing what they feel is right.