If you’ve ever sat in a meeting nodding along while someone talked about “controls” like everyone in the room was born understanding them… you’re not alone.
Controls are one of the most fundamental elements of risk and compliance, and also one of the most misunderstood.
Are they policies? Are they checklists? Are they tasks, tools, audits, procedures, reviews?
The answer is: kind of. But also… not really.
So let’s clear it up – no jargon, no assumptions, no gatekeeping.
Controls in Plain English
A control is anything you put in place to reduce the chance that something bad will happen — or to make sure something good does happen.
It’s the lock on your front door.
It’s the two-person sign-off before funds are transferred.
It’s the monthly review of access logs.
It’s the pop-up that asks, “Are you sure you want to send this?”
Some controls are technical. Some are manual. Some are preventative, some detective.
But at their core, they all serve one purpose: to reduce risk.
So What’s the Risk?
Every business faces risk. It’s unavoidable. But risks only matter when they could impact something the business cares about (revenue, reputation, customers, operations, compliance, etc).
That’s where controls come in. They’re how we respond to risk.
If the risk is “someone might send confidential data to the wrong person,” the control might be “require approval before external emails with attachments go out.”
The risk is the why. The control is the how.
Why Controls Get Confusing
Where things get tricky is that controls often live in silos. One team builds controls into their workflow. Another team does it differently. A third team doesn’t even know it’s a thing.
And because every department speaks its own language, what should be a shared system of protection starts to look more like a patchwork quilt of activities, policies, and half-documented procedures.
When that happens, no one knows what’s actually being controlled… or by whom.
What Good Control Management Looks Like
To be effective, controls need to be:
- Visible: Everyone should know what controls exist and why they’re there.
- Linked to risks: If a control isn’t tied to a meaningful risk, why does it exist?
- Owned and maintained: Someone should be responsible for ensuring it still works.
- Tested regularly: It’s not enough to design a control, you have to make sure it’s working as intended.
- Flexible: Because risks evolve and your controls should too.
When controls are well-managed, they don’t just prevent problems – they build trust. With regulators, with leadership, and with the rest of the business.
Making Controls Make Sense
At Empowered, we believe everyone should understand how the business protects itself (not just the audit team).
That’s why we’ve built Connected Risk to make control ownership, testing, and visibility simple, collaborative, and human.
Because controls aren’t just about compliance.
They’re about confidence.
And when everyone understands what the heck a control is, that confidence spreads.
Want to see what control management looks like in a system your business users will actually use? Let’s talk.
