The workshop is over. The hard work is done. The Chair, CEO or team leader has taken you aside and thanked you for such an enlightening workshop. Job done!

No, it’s not.

The last thing you need to do is make sure you are helping the team with sensemaking, not nonsense making. The key is a reality-check with the team with the team post the workshop. Not straight after, at least a day, if not a week. Let memories wane a little and then revisit the outcomes and ask a few questions:

• Does this align to our values? Does it pass the pub test?

How many times have we heard of a decision by a political leader that turns into political suicide? They simply forgot to apply the pub test or they got it horribly wrong.

• Is there data to support the decisions made? Or are we suffering from what I call Quantifornication?

I am still horrified at the lack of data collection and analysis when it comes to the analysis of risk. Even when data is available, some are much more comfortable going with their gut than with the evidence. The problem is, the gut only has a high degree of accuracy for decisions we have made thousands and thousands of times before. This does not work for business decisions which may only count into the hundreds at best, with others being complete one-offs.

• Is this achievable? Or have we promised more than we can deliver or, simply said, we’ve committed to things we know won’t get done? Are the politics all wrong and will initiatives be blocked as soon as initiated?

I’ve seen it so many times. Leaders in risk workshops getting motivated by the discussions only to realise later that their current commitments and budget simply won’t allow them to implement what was just agreed to. In this case the answer is to use risk to re-prioritise resources. Managers understand that the highest risk areas should get the resources required.

There you go. The last three blogs have encouraged you to Prepare – Facilitate – Validate. If you want to go deep on this approach, please come to my next training program on Mastering Risk Workshop Facilitation.

Stay safe and please run engaging workshops.