Today, I’m going to dive into the difference between two positive type of risk response strategies; i.e. Exploit and Enhance Risk Response Strategies.
Although, these risks responses strategies looks similar to many people but there is a difference in the way they are implemented. Enhance risk response technique tackles the situation leniently, on the other hand, Exploit tackles it very aggressively.
Enhancing is about increasing the probability of the occurrence of the event. Here, though the measures will be taken to increase the chance of happening of the event, but no surety to realize it.
In Enhance Response Strategy, opportunity may or may not be realized.
Exploiting is about doing everything to make the event happen; i.e. to make sure that opportunity is realized. Exploit Risk Response strategy takes the opportunity very seriously and develops an approach to increase the chance of happening to 100% to realize it.
For example, you are constructing a school building, and suddenly client comes to you and told you that if you complete the school building before the two months from the actual date, he will give you some extra amount of money.
You have an opportunity and now I am going to describe that how you approach it under both risks responses strategies:
Enhance Risk Response Strategy: Here, you will try to finish the project by increasing overtime, fast-tracking (fast-tracking—multiple activities are performed parallel or simultaneously to reduce the time to finish the project), or you try to get some resources from other projects.
As you can see that in Enhancing Risk Response Strategy, you’re only trying to finish the project early to gain the opportunity; i.e. you are only increasing the probability (chance) to finish the project early, there is no guarantee to realize the opportunity.
Exploit Risk Response Strategy: In Exploiting, you will finish the project by increasing manpower, overtime, fast-tracking, crashing (crashing—additional resources are assigned to activities to finish it earlier than planned. Crashing increases the cost), motivate team members by announcing rewards if they finish the project early etc.
Obviously, you can see that in Exploiting Risk Response Strategy, you will do whatever it takes to make sure that the opportunity is realized. You do not try to get this opportunity; you worked and ensure to get it.
Key Points:
• Enhance—try to realized the opportunity,
• Exploit—ensure to realize the opportunity.
• Enhance—try to increase the probability.
• Exploit—probability increased to 100%.
• Enhance—it can be assumed as opposite of the Mitigation.
• Exploit—it can be assumed as opposite to the Avoid.
This was all about the Enhance Risk Response vs Exploit Risk Response Strategies.