Transformational Risk Management
Giving a Master Class in Chamonix for Arcteryx
My journey with understanding risk management begans with my career as an adventure educator.
Many years ago, September of 1987 to be exact, I was working as an assistant instructor on a fourteen day Outward Bound course in the Sierra Nevada of California. We traversed Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks over fourteen days and climbed Ball dome, Mt Silliman and Lightning Peak. Outward Bound, like many forms of adventure has the potential to be transformational for human beings and sometimes it is (as are many intentional adventure programs). However, the instructor I was working with believed ardently that none of the activities needed to be debriefed or reflected upon. I remember him saying, “If these people can’t figure out something important from what we are doing, then I can’t help them.” I remember feeling the hair stand up on the back of my neck and a little pain in my heart when I heard these words. I was 22 years old, which was really young, but I knew that being in the mountains climbing peaks and living on the landscape was potentially transformational, and although I could not articulate it in words at the time, I knew that some facillitated reflection was critical. Like consuming food, life events need to be metabolized so they become valuable to the human soul. Otherwise what we live out in our lives are simply events that do not render into valuable experience. We ran the course, and the participants loved what they did, but something was amiss. But on this partiicular Outward Bound Course we had used adventure as an escape from the parts of ourselves that needed the most attention and healing, but it was easy and damn compelling. But it was also devoid of soul and a lack of soul can be the most dangerous thing in high risk environments.
Image courtesy of Outward Bound
I am fifty seven now. I am no longer the 22 year old bronzed young climbing passionate that I was back in 1987. Now I know, without question, that “meaning making” is a critical part of the process our growth as a human being, and our growth directly improves our ability to manage risk. It is a process of growth, increased maturity and improved choices. I would not have survived the events that I have lived in the mountains if I did not metabolize events and grow in order to make what I have lived useful to myself and my community.
High consequence environments are real in a world filled with deceptions, synthetic and virtual. What do I mean by real? This is euphamism for the fact that our colleagues, friends or people we care about, or are caring for, could die or be seriously injured because of our choices. Dying or being harmed is as real as it gets and it can happen in wicked environments when we fail to use our sensitivities. Complex or “Wicked” environments demand that we are 100% authentic if we are going to traverse hazardous situations without peril. Having a sensitivity to what is happening with ourselves, others and the environment lead us to being authentic. What is the road map to authenticity?
To start, believing that we can play the game of risk and be in it only for the “up side” is fundamentally flawed and lacks authenticity. Taking credit for our successes can only honestly happen if we are willing and able to completely engage with our failures. This is where risk finds its true power; claiming accountability for everything within the scope of our choices. Everything. The choices we make have consequence and if we are fully engaging in the process then, we actively capture opportunities to learn and grow from what we have chosen. This is the soul’s journey and it is a process that increases our sensitivity to our what is happening inside ourselves, with others, and in the environment with which we are engageing . This approach has the greatest potential for personal growth, personal development, group development, with a net benefit to risk management.
If you would like to learn more, or take a course visit archetypal.ca
Or book a speaking engagement