In leadership, you often cannot maintain everything safe and predictable. Unless you leave your comfort zone, you will be restricting your own development and the capacity of your team. On the other hand, leadership is not about blindly running into the dark.
The greatest leaders know how to take healthy risks. In other words, making decisions that push boundaries without risking the lives of the people or the future of the organization. Read on to learn how to achieve that.
Redefine what risk means
When the word risk comes up, it is easy to think of failure, loss, or danger. As a business professor in the Reza Satchu family says,‘’risk is usually the mother of innovation.’’ Healthy risks bring a chance for growth.
- Rather than posing the question: What could go wrong?
- Also pose the question: What could go right?
Such a mindset can make you look at risks as something intriguing rather than something to be scared of. It removes your fear of going big. It also motivates your team to experiment and be innovative with you.
Do your research
Healthy risks are not impulsive. They are decisions that are informed. Don’t jump into action just because you want to take a risk. Be sure to:
- Fact-find
- Think over possible consequences
- Consider options.
Ask yourself: What would be the best-case scenario? The worst-case? What about managing the downside in case it occurs?
Through your homework, you make your team realize that risk-taking is not reckless but a planned one. That gives a sense of security, although the way ahead is unclear.
Start small and build
You need not put all your eggs in one basket. Actually, healthy risk-taking tends to begin small. Here are some tips:
- Test a new strategy during a meeting
- Test a new process with a single department
- Introduce a small-scale version of a concept and then expand it.
Small risks provide feedback and learning experiences without crushing your team or your resources. They also develop momentum and confidence in taking bigger risks in the future.
Be honest with your team
Uncommunicated risk may breed fear. When you are taking a big step, include your team. Reason as to:
- Why the risk is important
- How you have considered it through
- What you will do to handle the difficulties in the process.
This openness will not only lessen uncertainty but also welcome buy-in. The team will feel part of you. They will be happy to support you, even when things do not go as well.
Embrace the failure as a part of the process
Not all risks will pay off, and that is all right. Healthy risks require the realization that some of them will not make it. The failure is not a death sentence. What is important is how you react. Do you learn through errors, adapt fast, and take that learning with you?
Your resilience as a leader will set the pace.So,
- Own the result
- Learn openly
- Keep moving.
Your team will have the same mentality.
The bottom line
Being a healthy risk taker as a leader involves balanced courage and wisdom. You need to stretch limits while maintaining a sense of reality. And that is the art of leadership. To be courageous enough to attempt, and wise enough to grow.
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