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Digital EditionHoda Hussein’s Humanistic Approach to Risk Management in Education Shows Empathy in Action
Kindness and empathy are at the core of how Hoda Hussein manages her interactions as a risk consultant for educators who serve students from kindergarten on up to the university level. As a senior risk management consultant for United Educators (UE), she helps provide risk management and insurance services to around 1,600 K-12 and higher education institutions.
Her job is no doubt complex, as she works with a multitude of different schools and stakeholders. Many have to navigate challenging situations, including troubles connected to sexual misconduct, Title IX compliance and natural catastrophes. On average, she responds to more than 150 risk advice queries each year, helping 121 unique institutions.
Through it all, her key to success is a piece of advice so simple, you probably learned it in elementary school: “It’s really treating others as you would hope that someone would treat you,” Hussein said. And when she struggles, she’d want someone to help her through it.
Hussein has learned that creating risk management muscle memory can be valuable for UE’s members — that way, they’re prepared in the event of a claim.
“I think a great way for schools to assess how prepared they are is to practice their responses to a variety of crises,” she said.
To that end, she has become an expert in helping members conduct tabletop exercises to develop that vital muscle memory.
She’s developed educational content that gives administrators a leg up on understanding and reacting to several risk scenarios based on real-life exposures they may encounter in schools, including suicide, hazing, active shooter events, ransomware, fires and campus demonstrations.
Helping schools prepare for disasters is one piece of the risk management puzzle, but in order to get them to embrace her methods, Hussein has had to build strong relationships. Remember the Golden Rule? By treating clients like she would want to be treated, she’s built lasting relationships that have benefited others in the UE system.
Hussein has gotten permission from many institutions to share their tabletop exercises and risk scenario examples with others as part of UE’s Risk Management Premium Credit (RMPC) program, which offers up to a 6% premium discount.
In 2023, RMPC set records with 83% member participation. Members completed 662 risk management activities, and their satisfaction with the program increased from 88% to 97%.
“Members will come back and share with me that as a result of some guidelines I provided or a policy I reviewed, they will update their protocols and come back and show me the result,” she said.
In one case, her attentiveness to an indemnification clause resulted in a third party bearing the responsibility for an injury, when, if she hadn’t reviewed the policy, the school would have.
“To be able to see the impact of my work and how it really helped the school was just so rewarding,” she said. “It really enforced for me why we do what we do in consulting at UE.” &
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