How can you prioritize innovation and creativity risks with risk assessment tools?

1 RICE scoring

RICE stands for Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. It is a simple and popular tool that helps you prioritize risks based on four criteria: how many people or customers will be affected by the risk, how much value or benefit will the risk generate or destroy, how confident are you in your estimates, and how much time or resources will the risk require. You can assign a numerical score to each criterion and multiply them to get a final RICE score for each risk. The higher the score, the higher the priority.

2 SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It is a strategic tool that helps you analyze the internal and external factors that affect your innovation and creativity. Strengths and weaknesses are the internal factors that you can control or improve, such as skills, resources, or processes. Opportunities and threats are the external factors that you cannot control but can exploit or mitigate, such as market trends, customer needs, or competitors. You can use a SWOT matrix to list and compare the four elements and identify the most significant risks for your innovation and creativity.

3 PESTLE analysis

PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental. It is a comprehensive tool that helps you examine the macro-environmental factors that influence your innovation and creativity. These factors are often beyond your control but can have a significant impact on your projects. You can use a PESTLE framework to scan and evaluate the six factors and how they affect your innovation and creativity. For example, you can consider the political stability, economic growth, social trends, technological innovations, legal regulations, and environmental issues that may pose risks or opportunities for your projects.

4 Risk matrix

A risk matrix is a visual tool that helps you assess and prioritize risks based on two dimensions: likelihood and impact. Likelihood is the probability of a risk occurring, and impact is the severity of the consequences if it does. You can use a risk matrix to plot your risks on a grid with four quadrants: low likelihood-low impact, low likelihood-high impact, high likelihood-low impact, and high likelihood-high impact. The risks in the high likelihood-high impact quadrant are the most critical and urgent, while the risks in the low likelihood-low impact quadrant are the least important and can be ignored.

5 Risk register

A risk register is a document that helps you record and track the risks that you have identified and prioritized. It typically includes information such as the risk name, description, category, owner, status, probability, impact, RICE score, mitigation strategy, contingency plan, and action items. You can use a risk register to monitor and update the risks throughout your innovation and creativity process and communicate them to your stakeholders. A risk register can also help you learn from your past experiences and improve your risk management skills.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?