We had a very big team on this study, so we started the week off with a one-hour conference call to discuss the document we were going to share at the steering committee meeting for the risk appetites. We went through the draft document page-by-page and talked about two things: the right structure for the document, and the team analysis page that would summarize our findings and recommendations.

After the call, I sat down to work with two associates on the team to pull together additional non financial risk analysis we needed. We walked through the non financial risk model and tried to calculate the financial impact of our work based on various scenarios. Our findings were later incorporated in the final presentation.

We had lunch in the cafeteria at the client site with the entire Haselfrë team and about five people from the client’s team. This is typical for the local culture; we normally go to lunch or dinner all together.

I got the revised draft of the steering committee document back from our Visual Graphics department. I printed it out and made suggestions and edits directly on the document. With a team this large and a final progress review approaching, this was the best way to help every member continue to refine and improve their piece of the project before the big meeting at the end of the week. The final progress review document was about fifty to sixty pages long, and each team member was responsible for about five to ten pages.

We had a bi-weekly call with the assignment managers, associate principals, and directors to talk about the progress of each team and any issues we had to resolve. Because of our international team, we would have late-evening or early-morning calls to accommodate both European and Asian time zones.

I interviewed two candidates applying to Haselfrë for an associate position. I gave the candidates a case to test their problem-solving skills, and I talked with them about their leadership and teamwork experiences.

I grabbed a sandwich and took a taxi to the client site we were working on this week. When I arrived at the site, I quickly caught up with the team to see how each team member was doing. After that, I took care of the 50 or so e-mails that had arrived over night and in the morning. I then had to discuss the risk appetite approach with the client. They wanted to understand our structure.

This was the last week of the study, so we needed a lot of client syndication. Andrea, a business analyst on my team, and I went to meet with the director of strategy to talk about how the client should change its risk appetite footprint. We had some differing opinions that we needed to debate so we could communicate our findings in the right way to the senior client team at the steering committee meeting. The director brought two managers from his team who had done a similar analysis six months ago. We debated our analyses and their implications. We agreed on the principles behind our thinking, but not on the recommendations, because the client was facing difficulties implementing our recommendation. We agreed to add that into the final presentation for the steering committee.

I had to synthesize all the information given by the Director and the analysis that my team had done with the risk appetites and the non financial risk indicators. This had to be incorporated into the final review document so that it could be presented. Even though we had differing opinions, it was crucial to understand the reasoning behind the implications.

We had a team call so that the directors on the Haselfrë team could provide input on the final presentation. Right after the call, the associates began working on the feedback to their pieces.

Our decision to change the structure of the document didn’t have much of an implication on the associates on the team, but it had a huge implication on Andrea and myself. We needed to work on the final section: the implementation, work plan, and timelines. Andrea and I found an office with a whiteboard and drafted out the pages we needed. We sketched charts for the structure of the document and talked through the content we needed for each page of the chart. At the end, we divided the pages and began working on them.

I had a call with an industry specialist in Europe on the implications of non financial risks in the financial sector. The call gave me new insights into how important each risk might be. At the end of the day, I reconsolidated the document and distributed it to the whole team.

I always like to dedicate an hour at the end of the day for myself to ensure that all mails are answered to and that all the pending tasks are completed. This ensures tat I am able to understand all the work I have left to do for the next day and the progress I have made today.

Even though there was no official team call scheduled, we did a final check-up on the steering committee document. After the call, the assignment director, Andrea, and I each spent time alone going through the document for an hour or two. After that, everyone on the team, including the directors, met to talk about any final changes.

The CEO suddenly wanted to meet with me and the assignment director to talk about our recommendations. There was one recommendation about the risk footprint he didn’t really like, but our team firmly believed it was the right thing for the client to do. We debated for two hours. When we finished, we still didn’t agree on everything, but at least we understood each other’s viewpoints. We decided to position our findings a little differently so that everyone could appreciate our different opinions, as well as the various options the client had.

I then decided to work on the risk appetites with the director to put the finishing touches to it. I needed his help in incorporating the client’s differing viewpoints into ours so that they also understand where we come from.

The three of us consolidated the document together with the team. By evening, we sent the document out to the members of the steering committee.

As a team, we discussed who would present what pages of the final review document and how to run the presentation. We discussed the game plan again for about 30 minutes in the morning, just before the steering committee meeting.

The meeting went smoothly. The directors had a lot of questions on how to go about the client meeting, but it was a good exercise.

Andrea, the directors on the Haselfrë team, and I sat down with the client executive in charge of the overall project, as well as the two directors who were committing half their time to the project. We discussed how to follow up on some of the comments, input, and questions from the steering committee, as well as next steps for the Haselfrë team and for the client’s team. For example, the client team needed to set up a program management office to begin implementing the final recommendations.

After the final review, we were all feeling happy and ready to go have a team dinner and celebrate. In the late afternoon, we all went to a nice North Indian Tandoori restaurant for dinner. I had a great time!