The COVID-19 outbreak is forcing executives, managers, policy makers, and the rank-and-file within organizations worldwide to quickly assess the risks they face and make business- and life-impacting decisions. In such situations, our natural tendencies are often to focus on limited subsets of information, which means we miss and ignore other important evidence. In addition, we systematically overestimate risk in some contexts, but underestimate in others. We struggle to incorporate new information, too often clinging to beliefs we ought to let go. Poor risk perceptions, assessment, and decision-making processes can lead us to over- or under-react to risk situations — with either leading to outcomes that are far worse than is necessary.

To improve how we manage risk, we need to employ practices that help us overcome common errors in how people perceive, assess, and react to risks they face. Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant and Ivey Business School Professor Dr. Laurel Austin is a behavioral decision theorist and expert in understanding both how people do and ought to perceive risk and make decisions.

In two 45-minute webinars, Dr. Austin helps you better know how to assess and manage the risks your organization faces as you are called upon to issue guidelines, adjust strategies, and rethink plans up and down the organization due to coronavirus concerns. Drawing on relevant examples from other domains, topics in the first session include:

• How emotions and selective perception lead us to miss important information
• Other common problems in perceiving and assessing risk
• Difficulties we face when trying to incorporate new information and update our beliefs and conclusions
• Advice on overcoming these problems in order better manage risk situations

In Part 2 (watch on-demand), topics include:

• The role of values in defining and measuring risk
• Loss aversion: how this distorts decisions and alters behavior
• Designing risk communications: how to nudge others toward behaviors that prevent or mitigate risk

Discover how you can avoid the natural tendency to draw flawed conclusions from data, underestimate risks and rush to decisions that can lead to far worse outcomes than is necessary. Join these sessions and learn what you need to take into consideration in the days and weeks ahead as you are called upon to issue guidelines to employees, adjust strategies, and rethink plans up and down the organization.

Guests: Register below to immediately view the webinar on-demand.