Playing it Safe Might Be the Riskiest Strategy

A senior level manager we are coaching shared with me a powerful story. One of her peers had secretly confessed to her that she was leaving the company after she received her annual bonus check. When I asked the leader we were coaching if she had let her CEO know this important information, she said she had not because her peer had asked her to keep the information confidential.

As a team member who knows highly confidential information which could negatively impact your organization, what would you do? In this example, the safe thing to do would be to keep the information confidential, and not harm your relationship with your peer. One of the hidden dangers of this “safe” approach is, if the CEO were to ask her if she knew in advance, she would have to make another tough choice and determine if she should tell the truth or lie about knowing. What would you do?

So, why do people avoid taking risks?

• They are comfortable with the status quo
• Doing the right thing could be stressful and hard
• They may have a higher need to be liked than a need to take a risk
• They’re uncomfortable moving forward and taking the risk without proof that the outcome will be successful

Most leaders are good at analyzing the downside of risks from trying something new or making a change. Managers love to analyze the costs and identify the risks of implementing a new innovation. But when leaders and their organizations are comfortable, what leaders are less adept at is quantifying the risks of staying the course and not making the change. In our example above, the manager did a great job of analyzing the CEO’s reaction and the harmful impact if would have on their relationship with their peer. What the manager did a poor job of was analyzing the risk of not taking action.

Research from business professors Peter Dickson and Joseph Giglierano, supports that there is a far greater chance that not making a decision is far riskier than taking a bold risk that ultimately fails. Dickson and Giglierano refer to the major difference in these two scenarios as “missing the boat” versus “sinking the boat.” What boat are you and your team or organization currently missing because you’re too comfortable with your current situation and level of success?

Unfortunately, because the leader in our example above was unwilling to take a risk and be honest, she missed and sank the boat. After receiving the bonus check, her peer did leave, went to a direct competitor and took six of her top employees with her.

When you ask people, why they don’t take a risk and implement a needed change in their professional or personal life, many times they will cite a fear that they have not been able to overcome. These fears are related to the above bullet point, such as a fear of not being liked, a fear of the unknown, a fear of stress, or a fear of failure.

As a leader, the following six tips will help you take a risk and be even more comfortable rocking the boat.

Have a clear vision about the future

Elon Musk, Irwin Jacobs, and Walt Disney all have had powerful positive visions of what they wanted to achieve. When you are passionate and highly motivated to turn your vision into a reality, and you are taking the necessary actions, there is a lot less focus on risk.

Hire people who think strategically

Hire people who have the courage and confidence to think strategically about the future. Where will your business or team be in three to five years? Are you aligned to inherit a world that is about to become? Team members who only focus at the operational tasks on their list tend to avoid taking risks, mainly because they have not proactively and strategically planned for the future. Great strategic planning significantly reduces the risk of taking, or not taking, action.

Do the right thing

When it comes to making the right decision, here are two great questions that will help you determine what the right decision is. Question #1: What is the decision that will take me closest to achieving the vision? Question #2: What is the right thing to do? In our opening example, if you are loyal to the organization, then you understand that the CEO needs to know when senior team members who play a significant role in the success of the organization are planning to leave. Most likely, letting the CEO know when the team member found out would have also helped the CEO take actions to mitigate the executive leaving and the CEO and remaining executives would be one step closer to achieving the vision.

Remember, great leaders keep their people uncomfortable

Any change is uncomfortable, even moving your watch from your left arm to your right arm or driving to work from a different direction. Great leaders know that change is uncomfortable and they are comfortable taking a risk and making the right decision that is in the best interest of the organization.

Sell the problem, not the solution

Many leaders try to sell the needed change by stressing the importance of the solution. For example, telling our team members that we need to become even more cost efficient because, otherwise, our competitors will be able to sell to our customers at a lower cost is accurate, but not effective if team members don’t agree that this is a problem. Although accurate, selling the problem is even more effective when people are resistant to change. Asking employees, “If all our competitors are cutting costs and becoming leaner, and we don’t, what is going to happen? This strategy plays out the “sinking the boat” option if you do not change.

Break away from the pack

Knowing that most people are more comfortable with the status quo than embracing change, this is the perfect time for you and your organization or team to take a risk and break away from the pack. As a leader, how do you want to be remembered? As a strategic leader who was willing to make tough decisions, implement needed changes and was willing to rock the boat? Or will you be remembered as a leader who played it safe, even staying comfortable long enough to the point of possibly sinking the boat?

If the manager we discussed earlier in this article had not been afraid to rock the boat, it would have six fewer holes.