Risk management is essential for business and project success, because it focuses on addressing uncertainties proactively in order to minimise threats, maximise opportunities, and optimise achievement of objectives. However, in practice risk management often fails to meet expectations, as demonstrated by repeated business and project failures. Foreseeable threats materialise into problems and crises, and achievable opportunities are missed leading to lost benefits. Clearly some essential ingredient is missing.

There is wide agreement that people are the most significant Critical Success Factor for effective management of risk. Risk management is undertaken by people, acting individually and in various groups, with a multitude of influences both explicit and covert. People adopt risk attitudes which affect every aspect of the risk process, even if they are unaware of it. Understanding and managing these attitudes would significantly increase risk management effectiveness – so what are they?

“Risk” can be defined as “uncertainty that could have a positive or negative effect on one or more objectives”, and “attitude” is “chosen state of mind, mental view or disposition with regard to a fact or state”. Combining the two gives a working definition of “risk attitude” as “chosen state of mind with regard to those uncertainties that could have a positive or negative effect on objectives”, or more simply “chosen response to perception of significant uncertainty”.

Risk attitudes exist on a spectrum from risk-aversion (uncomfortable with uncertainty), through risktolerant (no strong response), to risk-seeking (welcoming uncertainty). They are active at individual, group, corporate and national levels, and where they are recognised their influence on the risk process can be diagnosed and understood.

But diagnosis is different from treatment. Sometimes the risk attitude initially adopted by an individual or group may not support effective management of risk, for example if a product innovation team is risk-averse, or if a nuclear safety inspector is risk-seeking. In these cases action may be required to modify risk attitude. Recent advances in the field of Emotional Intelligence and emotional literacy provide a means by which attitudinal change can be promoted and managed, for both individuals and organisations. The key is to recognise that all attitudes are a choice, and can therefore be modified.

This subject is so big that it could fill a book*, but the first step in applying emotional literacy to the management of risk attitude is self-awareness. This applies to both individual and groups. To start the process of understanding and managing risk attitude, four simple questions can be asked (replace “I/my” with “we/our” for a group) :

1. How do I feel in this uncertain situation?
2. Why do I feel that?
3. Is my response appropriate to help me achieve my objectives?
4. If not, what am I going to do about it?

Risk psychology has been studied by academic researchers for many years, but there has not been much practical guidance on workplace application. Because risk attitude has such a major effect on all elements of the risk process, it is time to pay attention to this vital topic. Emotionally literate individuals and groups understand why they respond to risk in a particular way, and can adopt attitudes which are appropriate to the situation, helping them to maximise their risk management effectiveness.

風險管理對企業及專案而言是重要的，因為其專注於主動地處理不確定性，以使得威脅最小化、機會最大化、以及以最佳的方式達成目標。然而，從企業及專案一再地失敗中顯示，實務上，風險管理通常無法符合期待；可預見的威脅成為實質的問題與危機、可掌握的機會卻導致利益的損失，顯然某個重要的性質未被考慮到。

一個廣泛被接受的說法為，人是有效管理風險的最主要成功關鍵因素。風險管理的執行，是由不同團體中、受到許多明顯或潛在影響的人所各自採取的行動，因此，人的風險態度；即使是在不自覺的情況下，影響著風險處理的每一個面向，瞭解並管理這些態度顯然會增加風險管理的成效—那麼態度又是什麼呢？

「風險」可以定義為「對一個或多個目標有正面或負面影響的不確定性」；而「態度」則是「基於某種事實或狀態所選擇的一種心智狀態、觀點、或傾向」，結合上述二者給予「風險態度」的操作性定義為：「基於對目標有影響之正面或負面的不確定性所選擇的一種心智狀態」，或可簡單地說「對重要的不確定性認知所選擇的回應方式」。

風險態度以一種連續帶的形式存在，從風險趨避（不樂見不確定性）、通過風險中立（沒有強烈反應）、到風險偏好（喜愛不確定性），他們可以作用在個人、團體、公司、乃至國家等不同階層發，當他
們可以被認知，其對風險處理的影響就可以被判斷與瞭解。

然而判斷會隨處理的不同而異；有時候，個人或團體剛開始時所採取的態度，無法支持有效的風險管理；例如，當產品創新團隊是風險趨避者、或核能安全的檢查者是風險愛偏好者，此時可能應採取修正風險態度的行動。近來在有關情緒智能及情緒知識上的進展，提供了一種促進及管理個人及組織態度改變的方法，其關鍵在於認知到所有的態度都是一種選擇，因此是可以修正的。

這個主題大到可以寫成一本書*，然而將情緒智能運用到管理風險態度上的第一步是自我覺醒，這可以運用到個人及組織上。欲啟動瞭解並管理風險態度的程序，可以先問四個簡單的問題（運用於團體時將我/我的改為我們/我們的）：

1. 在這個不確定情況下我是什麼感覺？
2. 為什麼我有這種感覺？
3. 我的回應對幫助我達到目標是恰當的嗎？
4. 如果不是，那我將如何做呢？

風險心裡學已經被學者研究了許多年了，但是在工作現場中仍然沒有太多實務上的指導，由於風險態度對風險處理的所有因素都有相當重大的影響，因此是對此一重要主題賦予關注的時機了。具備風險智能之個人與團體瞭解為何他們會以特定的方式回應風險，並且能夠採取適當的態度，以幫助他們將風險管理的效益發揮到極致。