The Business Masterclass Series

Risk Mitigation

First Tuesday, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Wachholz Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, Kalispell

Owner dependency and unmanaged risks can reduce business value and jeopardize transitions. This session addresses risk mitigation strategies to safeguard continuity and enterprise value.

What the class covers

  • Identify and reduce owner dependency.
  • Address legal, financial, and operational risks.
  • Build risk mitigation into daily operations.

What you will work through

  • Five categories of risk: operational, financial, strategic, legal, and leadership
  • Owner dependency, and the plain version of it, the bus test
  • The dependency spectrum, and the goal of becoming optional rather than unnecessary
  • Tribal knowledge against documented knowledge
  • Single points of failure across people, customers, suppliers, systems, and contracts
  • The six questions a buyer asks about risk
  • The reduction plan: document, delegate, develop, and disappear
  • The delegation ladder, from waiting for orders to full authority

What you take home

  • Owner dependency reduction plan.
  • Risk audit template.
  • Risk mitigation action checklist.

Who this class is for

Business owners, successors, and leadership teams preparing for transition.