A new study by Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk adviser, highlights that public sector organisations in the UK lack suitable risk management frameworks or appropriate risk management cultures to enable effective collaboration in areas such as strategic delivery partnerships and shared services.

In a survey conducted by Marsh at the annual conference of Alarm, the public risk management association, in June 2009, 60% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that collaborations in which their organisations were participating did not have appropriate risk management frameworks and/or risk management cultures for collaborative working.

In addition, more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents indicated that their existing arrangements for developing, assessing and challenging the business case for collaborative working were not sufficiently robust.

Despite this apparent lack of confidence in their existing procedures, a large majority of respondents attested to high levels of faith in management: 78% believed that managers at all levels in their organisations were willing to consider new ideas and identify opportunities for collaborative working.

Brian Shaw, Leader of Marsh’s UK Public Sector Practice, commented: “Collaborations can be highly effective ways of working for public sector organisations and provide great opportunities for improved efficiency, reduced costs, better service delivery to communities and better value for money. However, if it is not managed effectively, collaborative working can also threaten successful delivery and the expected cost and efficiency benefits.

"The results of the survey demonstrate a clear gap between the application of theory and the actual practice of collaboration in the UK public sector. While respondents believe that their managers are capable of identifying new opportunities for collaborative working, their faith in the subsequent development and implementation is low. This creates a huge opportunity for them step up to the plate and fill this perceived gap.”

Alarm Chief Executive, Dr Lynn Drennan, welcomed the results of the Marsh survey and added: “The findings support previous work undertaken by Alarm on this important issue. The key challenge for public risk professionals, and the wider public sector, is how we can embed good risk management practice within partnership arrangements, where the culture and working practices of each party may vary considerably.”

To promote successful collaborations in their organisations, among the actions Marsh recommends public sector risk managers consider taking include:

• Governance is the key enabler - good risk management is a critical component of good governance and risk managers must consistently deliver the message that risk management is a tool that ‘seeks to ensure that things go right’.
• Recognising success and developing the business case - risk management techniques can be deployed to help establish suitable measurable outcomes for collaboration and monitor progress towards their achievement. These measurable outcomes can then be presented within the business case and support each partner’s considerations of whether or not collaboration is a path that they want to pursue.
• Fulfilling responsibilities - Risk managers and others from partner organisations should work together to identify, define, explore and assess the issues (real or perceived) that may be undermining their confidence in their partners’ ability to deliver against the commitments. They can then help to develop actions to address those issues and so promote confidence.