Risk quadrant template

There is a wide range of factors that will increase the change risk for a project, and so it is important to conduct an effective risk change assessment to understand, document, and reduce these change risks. The remainder have mixed results. This illustrates how not properly identifying and addressing change risk is a major problem that keeps many organizational change projects from achieving the desired results.

In addition to this change risk definition section, the sections below provide a detailed overview of the various risk changes that can impact your program or increase the overall change risk for your project.

Do you have any feedback or questions about this risk and change management guide? One of the most common change risks associated with change management is that the change program will run into severe resistance with end-users, impacted groups, and even managers resisting the change. Resistance to change is one of the most observed types of change risks.

Sample resistance assessment change risk assessment template. It recently happened to Mark Zuckerberg when Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout to protest some company mandates.

This is just one example of the risks involved in change management. What are other risks involved in change management? Other common change management risk examples that can impact your project include:. Do you have an example of a change management risk that you believe should be included in the list of change risks above, that other change management practitioners can leverage?

If so, send us a message. Change practitioners and project managers often ask about the best ways to identify risk in change management. In addition, we recommend that you also conduct organizational readiness assessments to understand how ready an organization is for the change.

Note: You can download our free Change Management Strategy OCM Strategic Playbook , which includes a change management risk assessment matrix slide that you can re-purpose for your needs, including presenting the risks associated with change management to your management team and key stakeholders.

In total, the results from these change assessments will allow you to better understand the overall risk of change involved in your change program. Illustration — Change Impact Analytics Dashboard. Want to identify more risks associated with change management? You can use this top-ranked Change Impact Tool. Over the last decade in my role as a Senior Change Management Lead, understanding the risk for a program has allowed me to effectively develop change risk mitigation plans to quickly reduce resistance and overall risk to change management activities.

Not understanding your change risk is similar to having blinders on. Change management risk and impact assessments are directly connected. From your change impact assessment, you can easily identify the severity and scale of impact to groups, processes, and tools.

The higher the impacts, the higher the risks to the change management program. Similarly, your stakeholder assessment will support your change management risk assessment.

Get Free Templates Today. At the early stages of a project, it is essential for change practitioners or project leads to document the risks that the organization will face during this change. Part of this change risk assessment will involve identifying any known trouble spots or potential areas for resistance. This section above provides an overview of the types of change assessments that will provide input for your change management risk analysis.

Do you have change management risks examples that should be included in this guide? When developing your change management strategy, make sure to include a change management risk chart like the one illustrated below to provide program leadership with an understanding of the implementation risk for the program. Note: You can download our free Change Management Strategy OCM Strategic Playbook , which includes a change risk assessment template, chart, and matrix slide that you can re-purpose for your needs.

Why is this important and how does it impact your change risk analysis? A business readiness analysis is important because if impacted groups and departments are ready and receptive to a change, then the implementation will have a lower change risk. But if impacted groups are not ready for the change, then there is potential for increased resistance and a higher risk to change management deliverables. Also, as mentioned above, the more severely a change will impact individuals, the higher the risk that the change program will run into resistance.

Do you have questions about this risk assessment for change management guide? The very process of completing your change risk assessment is actually a simple process.

The heavy lifting will happen when you are conducting your change impact assessments, change readiness analysis, stakeholder assessments, and other change management reviews.

Whenever we speak about risk in change management, change risk analysis, or a change management risk matrix, it all comes down to where your change risk will be placed on the risk assessment chart below. The Y-axis plots the severity of the change impacts. If your change program has a low impact and is being rolled out to a group that is very receptive to the change, then your change management will have a Low-Risk Implementation.

But if the change has major impacts and if it is being implemented to an organization that is not receptive to the change, then your change program will have a High-Risk Implementation score which will require an extensive level of change management risk mitigation activities. Program and Readiness Risk Chart Illustration. Then plot it in the appropriate position in your chart, or denote the rating in your table. The typical classifications used are as follows:. Risks that have severe negative consequences and are highly likely to occur receive the highest rank; risks with both low impact and low likelihood receive the lowest rank.

Risk rankings combine impact and likelihood ratings to help you identify which risks pose the greatest overall threats and therefore are the top priority to address. Some organizations use a numeric scale to assign more specific risk rankings.

However, most rankings fall into a few broad categories, which are often color-coded:. After selecting your template, fill it in with examples of risks your organization encounters. Depending on your industry or organization size, you may have additional resources for risk assessment and response. For example, the U. Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA has specific matrices workers can use when responding to natural disasters: The Hazard Exposure and Risk Assessment Matrix helps workers and employers assess risks and operate more effectively in areas impacted by hurricanes.

Of course, a risk rating matrix is simply a tool to help guide decision-making. The risk management team should always carefully analyze both the matrices and the risks themselves before deciding how to prevent, mitigate, or respond to a current or potential risk. Risk matrices are commonly used in project management to examine how risks might affect project scope, schedule, and cost. Our free risk matrix examples contain a variety of types for different industries, so you can find one that best fits your needs.

There are many potential threats affecting healthcare organizations, such as clinical testing errors, hospital facilities issues, security breaches of protected health information PHI , and more. Healthcare organizations are under strict regulations when it comes to risk and compliance, meaning establishing a risk assessment and determining where those risks exist are extremely important for the business, both legally and functionally.

Creating a plan to handle risk can help to identify the most severe threats, assess their likelihood, and determine how to mitigate them. In addition, risk assessments can identify the location of all PHI and establish a targeted risk response to safeguard confidential information.

Healthcare risk assessments must be comprehensive, accessible across authorized members of the organization, and sufficient in the way it identifies and addresses all potential threats to processes and information. To ensure that all healthcare data, information, and procedures are effectively audited for possible risks, you need a tool that enables you to quickly identify, mitigate, and prevent risks from coming to fruition, while also offering real-time visibility into all potential threats.

Smartsheet is a work execution platform that empowers healthcare companies to view and update risks across the organization with real-time dashboards, so you can make the best decisions at the right time.

Highlight identified risks, update likelihood and severity, and oversee how they are being addressed to keep your team on the same page, all while ensuring utmost security and protection of PHI. Set sharing settings within dashboards to ensure that only authorized users have access to confidential information, so your organization remains compliant with HIPAA regulations.

Interested in learning more about how Smartsheet can help you accurately and securely document healthcare processes and maximize your efforts? Discover Smartsheet for Healthcare. Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done.

Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. Try Smartsheet for free, today. In This Article. Free Risk Matrix Templates Risk matrices, also called risk severity matrices , can help you determine the priority of risks.

See how Smartsheet can help you be more effective. Risk Management Matrix Template. Risk Control Matrix. Business Risk Assessment Matrix Template. Risk Response Matrix Template. Construction Risk Assessment Matrix Template. Project Risk Matrix Template. What Is a Risk Matrix? How to Use a Risk Matrix Template Also known as a risk management matrix, risk rating matrix, or risk analysis matrix , a risk matrix template focuses on two aspects: Severity: The impact of a risk and the negative consequences that would result.

Likelihood : The probability of the risk occurring. The typical classifications used are as follows: Severity: Insignificant: Risks that bring no real negative consequences, or pose no significant threat to the organization or project. Minor: Risks that have a small potential for negative consequences, but will not significantly impact overall success.

Moderate: Risks that could potentially bring negative consequences, posing a moderate threat to the project or organization.

Critical: Risks with substantial negative consequences that will seriously impact the success of the organization or project. Catastrophic: Risks with extreme negative consequences that could cause the entire project to fail or severely impact daily operations of the organization.

These are the highest-priority risks to address. Likelihood: Unlikely: Extremely rare risks, with almost no probability of occurring. Seldom: Risks that are relatively uncommon, but have a small chance of manifesting. Likely: Risks that are highly likely to occur. Definite: Risks that are almost certain to manifest. Address these risks first. However, most rankings fall into a few broad categories, which are often color-coded: Low: The consequences of the risk are minor, and it is unlikely to occur.

These types of risks are generally ignored, and often color-coded green. Medium: Somewhat likely to occur, these risks come with slightly more serious consequences. If possible, take steps to prevent medium risks from occurring, but remember that they are not high-priority and should not significantly affect organization or project success. These risks are often color-coded yellow.