The Agency Risk Management Officer (ARMO), with support from the NASA Safety Center (NSC) and the Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership (APPEL), has developed four new risk-focused training courses. These courses are designed to help NASA personnel at all levels communicate about risk more effectively, make risk-informed decisions, and apply NASA’s updated Objectives-Driven Risk Management (ODRM) framework in both programmatic and institutional settings. Two self-paced courses (“Fundamentals of Risk Management at NASA” and “Risk Leadership”) are now available in SATERN, and two instructor-led courses (“Understanding Risk Management” and “Applying Risk Management”) are set to be piloted in summer 2025.
The FRM course introduces NASA’s ORDM framework and explains how risk is addressed as part of achieving agency mission objectives. The set of courses are designed for anyone involved in mission or institutional decision-making (e.g., engineers, analysts, project managers, mission support personnel) who need to understand how risk is communicated, owned, and used to inform decisions.
“The motivation for creating this training is to get everyone speaking the same language about Risk Management and make sure it is understood across the agency that Risk Management really is everyone’s job,” said John Orme, ARMO Risk Program Executive and course creator. “Participants will learn how to distinguish between individual and aggregate risk, define risk posture and tolerance, and support safety culture through transparent risk communications and structured risk analysis.”
Fundamentals of Risk Management at NASA (SMA-OV-WBT-137)
The FRM course provides a concise and accessible introduction to NASA’s RM principles and practices and is designed to support NASA’s mission success. It is recommended for all NASA employees.
The course, hosted by Dr. Mary Skow, Agency Risk Management Officer, provides an overview of RM principles reflecting the newly updated RM Handbook. Course participants explore key concepts and terminology, agency principles and practices, foundations of the Objectives-Driven RM framework and communication of risk information.
What are the benefits of taking the FRM course?
Participants will understand the updates to the RM Handbook and feel confident in applying relevant RM principles to their day-to-day responsibilities. The FRM course offers foundational knowledge to help participants:
- Understand NASA’s Risk Management policy and frameworks
- Recognize how Risk Management supports decision-making
- Learn basic steps for identifying, analyzing and mitigating risks
- Appreciate the role of Risk leadership and culture in mission success
- Implement Safety Culture practices in day-to-day operations
Register for FRM in SATERN under “Fundamentals of Risk Management at NASA” or SMA-OV-WBT-137.
Participants interested in learning more about RM can continue their training with the newly released companion course “Risk Leadership.”
Risk Leadership (SMA-HQ-WBT-220)
The “Risk Leadership” course is a companion course to be taken alongside FRM and introduces participants to risk, risk posture, risk management and risk leadership. These topics are evaluated and discussed from a leadership perspective, providing an overview of NASA’s relationship with risk and risk leadership in the current exploration and commercialization environment.
“This course introduces Risk Leadership as a new guiding principle of the agency,” said Orme. “This course is designed to help leadership express their expectations on how much risk they are willing to take and speed up decision velocity along the way, so we trust our teams to make decisions and to do their work within established risk tolerance boundaries.”
Like FRM, “Risk Leadership” is a self-paced, online course. The course is designed to help teams acknowledge Risk and determine acceptable levels of risk throughout a project.
What are the benefits of taking the Risk Leadership course?
Participants will learn to implement RM practices into their individual role across the agency. Though this course is discussed from a leadership perspective, the concepts in this course are applicable across a general NASA audience. Participants will explore how leadership influences decision velocity, and how to communicate risk tolerance and posture across teams. General course objectives include:
- Define Risk Leadership and Risk Posture
- Compare Risk Leadership and Risk Management
- Determine who accepts Risk
- Understand NASA’s approach to Risk and the value of strong Risk Leadership
Register for “Risk Leadership” in SATERN under “Risk Leadership” or SMA-HQ-WBT-220.
Ongoing Risk Management Learning Opportunities
For additional risk training focused on practical application, there are two new instructor-led APPEL courses titled “Understanding Risk Management: An Exploration of Core Concepts” (APPEL-RMCC) and “Applying Risk Management: From Theory to Practice” (APPEL-RMTP). All participants must complete FRM (SMA-OV-WBT-137) as a pre-requisite to complete the application courses. These courses are in-person/hybrid, instructor led, utilizing practical case studies and exercises to further explore RM across the agency and provide relevant examples and application. The APPEL-RMCC pilot is set for June 17th at Johnson Space Center and the APPEL-RMTP pilot is set for July 29-30 at Kennedy Space Center.
For assistance, please contact Diana Wehrell-Grabowski. The Agency Risk Management Officer also welcome your feedback to help continuously improve NASA’s risk management training offerings.
Advance your risk knowledge. Strengthen your leadership. Enroll today—NASA’s mission success depends on it.