Advice for the risk management career path

Megan sees more risk management programs in schools, and more support from groups like PRIMA, than when she started. AI is the newest tool, but she warns that it is often wrong. Heather adds that everything a government does is discoverable, so work done with AI could lead to litigation no one can predict yet.

The takeaway: If your organization adopts AI, train employees on how and when to use it before they rely on it.

Megan's police department posts on social media to stay transparent, and she reminds them to check what they share. Once, a minor's information was posted by accident. Heather points to cybersecurity, employment law and EEOC claims, and election-year politics as exposures that keep shifting, while Georgia's tort reform should help curb injury claims.

The takeaway: Review where your organization shares information, and revisit your top exposures as laws, technology, and politics change.

Heather's advice is time in the seat and learning from a mentor before anything else. Institutional knowledge, she says, is what makes a risk management team successful.

The takeaway: Don't wait for a designation to start learning. Hands-on claims and risk work builds knowledge that a course can't.

If you handle workers' compensation, Heather recommends a certified workers' comp professional designation and a state license, which are reasonably priced. Claims administrators and adjusters should look at the Associate in Claims. Risk managers should consider the ARM, which Heather is finishing now and Megan plans to study for with a group of peers. A state adjuster's license and its 40 hours of pre-licensing also teach a lot.

The takeaway: Pick the credential that fits the work you do today and the role you want next.

Greenwich supports professional development, but Megan still shows how a course will help her do her job and benefit the town. PRIMA can help with the cost. Georgia PRIMA, where Heather is vice president, offers scholarships toward the ARM, Connecticut PRIMA offers scholarships too, and PRIMA offers classes at a discounted rate.

The takeaway: Tie each certification to what it does for your organization, and check whether your local PRIMA chapter can help pay for it.

Heather says you can't move up without buy-in from departments and executives. Even as a claims administrator, she recommends ride-alongs to learn each department's operations and speak their language. She learned much of what she knows about law enforcement and public officials' liability that way.

The takeaway: Be present in good times and bad, and bring what you learn back to your executives so they see the value of a risk program.

When deciding who is ready for more responsibility, Megan looks for someone she can trust, who takes the job seriously and loves the work. Heather looks for a fire in the belly: people driven more by the reward of the job than by the pay.

The takeaway: Give stretch opportunities to the people who show both trust and passion. They are the ones who keep growing.

Greenwich has about 60,000 residents, and Megan runs risk on her own. She relies on "mini risk managers" in other departments who are trained to spot risks and escalate the ones that need her. Heather's team gets extra help through a student internship with a local high school, posted like a regular job.

The takeaway: Train people in other departments to handle risks at their level, and look to local schools for extra support.

Heather starts with an honest conversation with herself: there will never be enough time in the day. Then she tracks the volume of work and the share of time spent in each area to justify more resources. Her team of three serves about 1,900 county employees, so everyone is cross-trained and can cover for each other.

The takeaway: Track where your time goes. Numbers make a stronger case for help than stress does.

Megan is visiting every department to build a full risk register, a smaller-scale version of an enterprise risk management program. She told the comptroller it would take time. She also decides what not to chase: a $200 stop sign isn't worth her time to subrogate when she's the only person in the department.

The takeaway: Set expectations with your boss, schedule department visits in small steps, and be honest about which small tasks can wait.

Heather's biggest recommendation for getting strategic is a risk management information system (RMIS). It can manage certificates of insurance and claims, and connect with a TPA's system, so less of the work is manual.

The takeaway: Find the most manual parts of your process and look for a system that can take them on.

Heather has been with Forsyth County for 20 years. A neighboring county might offer a bigger title and more pay, but she weighs that against the relationships and respect she has built, and says she would stay. Megan changed careers inside the town, from law to risk, even though staying in the law department could have paid more. The better fit mattered more to her.

The takeaway: List the pros and cons the way you would assess any risk. Pay and title are only part of the picture.

Asked what they wish they had known earlier, both said the same thing: how many resources are out there. Heather wishes she had found more mentors when she started, so she wouldn't have felt like she was on an island. Both now mentor other risk managers.

The takeaway: Join your PRIMA chapter, ask for a mentor, and don't try to figure out the job on your own.