If your organization got bogged down halfway through in implementing its risk mitigation plan, you might like to know you’re not alone. Many companies struggle in this area. In today’s blog we’ll share a tool that can help you see the job through: our ultimate risk mitigation plan checklist.
[Related: Checking It Twice: The Corporate Risk Mitigation Checklist]
Many organizations do a good job with the early phases of implementing a risk mitigation. They complete a risk assessment, flag critical vulnerabilities, and even brainstorm solid strategies for reducing their exposure. Then momentum slows. Meetings get canceled, task owners move on, and the “next steps” section of the risk report goes missing in action.
This isn’t usually because people don’t care. It’s because risk mitigation is a complex, cross-functional effort that requires structure and sustained focus. Without a clear framework for moving from insight to action, even the best intentions can lose steam.
That’s where a checklist can make a real difference.
A well-designed checklist brings visibility, discipline, and accountability to the process. By breaking a big, overwhelming objective—“reduce organizational risk”—into specific, manageable actions, it helps keep everyone aligned and gives leadership a way to monitor progress.
In short, a risk mitigation checklist helps ensure your mitigation plan doesn’t just sit on a shelf—it gets put into effect.
Here’s a streamlined version of the risk mitigation plan checklist we use and recommend. It’s designed to help you move methodically from risk identification through to implementation, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
| Action | Date Completed |
| 1. Communicate and gain management support | _______ |
| 2. Identify team members (lead, SMEs, planners, technical writers) | _______ |
| 3. Identify/update risks (conduct or refresh a risk assessment) | _______ |
| 4. Assess and prioritize risks (based on likelihood, impact, and context) | _______ |
| 5. Define mitigation options (across technology, processes, people, and vendors) | _______ |
| 6. Develop the mitigation plan (keep it actionable; prioritize by importance and put the context in the appendices) | _______ |
| 7. Implement the plan (assign owners, train staff, brief stakeholders) | _______ |
| 8. Monitor the plan (track progress, use metrics, check for changes) | _______ |
| 9. Test the plan (where appropriate, validate mitigation actions) | _______ |
| 10. Schedule recurring reviews and repeat steps 3–9 regularly | _______ |
You can adapt this checklist to your organization’s size, complexity, and industry. The key is to treat the plan as a living process, not a one-and-done document.
Most teams are pretty good at accomplishing the items in the first half of the checklist. They can communicate the need for action, assemble the right team, conduct a solid risk assessment, and propose reasonable mitigation options.
The breakdown typically happens after the plan is written. Implementation lags because responsibility is unclear or resources are limited. Monitoring is spotty or not connected to regular program governance. Testing is deprioritized. And reviews, when they happen at all, often feel like a compliance formality rather than a real opportunity to improve.
The issue isn’t one of capability. It’s one of follow-through.
The organizations that make meaningful progress on risk reduction are the ones that build mitigation into their ongoing operations. They don’t just check the boxes and move on—they track their mitigation items the same way they track operational KPIs or project milestones.
They also train staff on what mitigation looks like in practice. It’s one thing to install a new control or backup process; it’s another to make sure people understand it, use it correctly, and report issues when it fails.
Just as with BC and DR plans, risk mitigation plans need to be reviewed and refreshed—especially when business conditions change, vendors shift, or new technologies are introduced. Reviewing mitigation actions should be part of your quarterly or biannual continuity review cycle.
Risk mitigation isn’t just about identifying what could go wrong—it’s about making sure the right actions get taken to reduce your exposure. A checklist can help by bringing clarity and structure to what’s often a messy, fragmented process.
If you’ve struggled to turn risk insight into real progress, you’re not alone. But with a structured checklist and a commitment to follow-through, you can ensure that your mitigation plan delivers more than ideas—it delivers resilience.
For more information on risk mitigation planning and other hot topics in BC and IT/disaster recovery, check out these recent posts from MHA Consulting and BCMMETRICS: