Risk culture

Breaking the silo: How one telecoms member transformed risk culture

by Christina McKeon Frutuoso

3 min read

Feb 2, 2026

Against a backdrop of significant business transformation, risk leaders at a large telecoms and tech company found that the business’ awareness of and engagement with risk management required improvement.

The risk team identified that engagement was frequently a "one-way street." Colleagues across the business tended to wait for the risk function to approach them, rather than proactively asking questions or engaging themselves.

The risk team saw the key to building a stronger risk culture as improving access to people, tools and information. This would enable risk management to move from isolated silos into the heart of the business.

About this insight

During a recent network collaboration on engaging the business in risk, practitioners at one organisation shared their strategy for instilling greater risk awareness across their business.

This article offers a deep-dive on the key drivers behind their “Risk Awareness Week”, its objectives, and the lessons they have learned from coordinating the event in previous years.

There were four key strategic drivers for this project:

1. To place risk on the map

The business’ knowledge of the risk team and the scope of its activities was minimal, and there was a perception that risk and internal audit were the same team

2. Build personal relationships

Stronger personal relationships were needed to encourage employees to be more risk-aware and practice good risk management behaviours.

3. Support informed decision-making

There was a need to educate employees that risk management is not a negative and that taking risk can be a positive for the organisation if taken as part of an informed decision.

4. Drive innovation

There was a need to emphasise the importance of risk management in innovation, and demonstrate how a risk-aware culture can help transform challenges into opportunities, enabling growth.

walkthrough icon

Walk me through this approach step-by-step

Our team will get in touch and show you how this member successfully transformed risk culture.

Request now

Risk Awareness Week

To raise the profile of risk management and embed it in the business, the organisation launched an ambitious, week-long Risk Awareness Week, as the centrepiece of the strategy. This was a physical "roadshow" across the organisation’s various office locations and sites. This visible, high-impact presence was supported by several key initiatives:

Educational booth: These on-site booths allowed stakeholders to meet the the Group ERM team to meet in their own environment. These touch points gave employees get insights into the company’s risk management strategies, discuss key risks impacting the business, and lear how to embed risk awareness in their day-to-day.

‘Risk Heroes’ campaign: Promoted as part of risk awareness week, employees were encouraged to nominate their risk heroes. These were people who had demonstrated good risk mindset and behaviours, as well as showing commitment to managing both risks and opportunities. These heroes were recognised in an award ceremony attended by senor management.

Meetings and workshops: The Group ERM team also ran workshops with risk champions, an interactive forum for questions and answers for the wider team, and a meeting with the Enterprise Risk Management committee.

Mandatory E-Learning: The week also served as the launchpad for the organisation's first-ever mandatory risk e-learning module, ensuring a baseline level of risk literacy for every member of staff.

Lessons learned and next steps

Reflecting on the success of the initiative, the organisation’s risk leaders highlighted several critical lessons for those looking to create a similar project:

The power of consistency: Using a core brand and a single, clear message is vital for linking diverse activities across multiple sites.
Administrative diligence: Do not underestimate the logistical effort. Coordinating a multi-site roadshow requires significant planning and resource.
Incentivising engagement: The team found that simple incentives such as prizes and giveaways supported employee engagement and boosted interest.
Broadening the reach: Moving forward, the organisation plans to increase reach by holding more sessions, extending the coverage to other locations, creating content such as podcasts and articles, and using other communication channels such as social media and a central mailbox.

What are other risk leaders doing?

While this case study focuses on one organisation’s journey, other risk leaders in the sector are finding success in building risk engagement and awareness in different ways. Some are utilising community voting to allow senior executives to prioritise risk topics for discussion, while others have partnered with third-party education providers to deliver virtual, interactive risk training specifically tailored for leadership teams.

For any risk leader in the telecoms space, the message from our members was clear: building a proactive culture is not a one-time event, but a strategic commitment to making risk management a visible, accessible, and valued part of the corporate identity.

walkthrough icon

Ready to understand more?

Book a call with our team to understand more about this project and our work with telecoms members.

Request now

Share this

Previous post

← What are risk leaders' key objectives for 2026?

Get new posts by email