A few days ago in the middle of a debate on risks and risk-taking, I suddenly realized that risk is one of the main reasons for projects and people to failure in any company. You all probably think what’s new here; well risks are the main reason, but from a different reason that you have in your mind right now!
Risks are the main problem because people are afraid to take them! The common risk-averse culture pushes us away from taking any risks. To prevent risks, we will spend a lot of time and effort to make sure that we understood all the risks (that’s awesome) and we find a way how to mitigate them (take more time and problematic).
The end result is that most of the people are not taking risks or spending a lot of time understanding all of them and find a way how to mitigate them or prevent them. One way or another when you have a project or complicated task to do, not taking risks or spending time to understand them and prevent them end up with very long delays. Again understanding and managing your risks is essential. Spending a lot of time to avoid them or simply find a way not to take them is a problem.
Take any company or successful individual (even the most risk-averse companies today), and you’ll find out that they wouldn’t be where they are without taking significant risks and moving fast with their plans. Regretfully we are educating people to take the opposite approach and then we surprise when most of the projects fail.
I’m always taking risks, I’m moving fast, I fail, I learn, and I finish most of my projects on time. Is it easy? No! Is it helpful to achieve what you believe in? Yes!
So, if you are a leader help people to take risks (and manage them). If you want to achieve more than you are getting today, take risks!