I know you enjoy watching those “World’s Scariest Natural Disaster” shows, because modern professional culture is full of natural disaster imagery used to describe the pressures and risk in business. As a leader of people and projects, you likely experience these same feelings, being overwhelmed by a “tsunami” of external forces, by risk. No risk – no business; no risk – no ops, however you put it, risk is inherent in all things. Despite any feelings, leaders are expected to overcome, but how when danger and pitfalls lurk? The trick is to spot risk then mitigate it to clear the path ahead, all the while protecting yourself within your organization.
"The 'protecting yourself within your organization' caveat needs to be included in risk assessment because all too often, risk-to-self from bureaucratic pressures becomes the greatest risk of all."
When you think about risk, what are your thoughts? The term “risk” is pretty ambiguous honestly, and somehow leads to people forming negative connotations. But I challenge you to think differently, consider risk with more granularity and from the viewpoint that it deals with the prospect of both success and failure. Think of the “Hail Mary” throw in football, one of the “riskiest” plays in the game. True, most likely, the ball will be batted down or intercepted but there is also the chance of getting the touch down; a chance to win the game. Success despite risk is also true elsewhere and often more attainable than the Hail Mary.
No matter how the Hail Mary pans out, the fans in the stands will let the coach know how they feel. But that coach will tell you, “Don’t worry about the ‘optics,’ or how others may perceive your actions, focus on ensuring results.” You learn from failure too and so, without failure, significant learning cannot take place. Reviewing film during the week will help the coach and players execute that play better next time, if it fails. If leaders are promoting a zero-defect environment, they themselves are defective. Innovation will cease when people fear pushing the boundaries of the possible. So an organization would still fail in a zero-defect environment because it cannot grow by learning from mistakes; it fails to be a learning environment. On an individual level, it is easier to be comfortable in taking risk if you know well the rules and regulations surrounding your profession. Relying on football again for a good example, we look at the “trick play.” These plays can exist because the coach knows the rules well enough to leverage them to the team’s advantage. Thus, the coach can mitigate risk by executing a play where the opposing team expects something conventional and fails to realize the nuance of the play until it’s too late. So, know your shit to deal with it (risk).
Sadly the “protecting yourself within your organization” caveat needs to be included in risk assessment because all too often, risk-to-self from bureaucratic pressures becomes the greatest risk of all. Such was the case for me during a deployment to Afghanistan where I confronted what I knew to be an unlawful order. However, I took the professional risk of rejecting that order, since I could objectively and legally justify my position. My immediate boss ordered me to force several soldiers to rewrite sworn statements to reflect a false narrative written for proposed awards. After gathering all the information about the situation that I could, I quickly rejected the order flat out. How could this take place? Following an enemy attack against the team section led by my deputy and located in a separate province, that deputy wrote awards for several soldiers. As it turned out, the deputy’s narrative was rather embellished, contrary to the statements of those intended to receive the awards, and to the predator drone feed overhead during the attack. When the supporting sworn statements arrived at the headquarters for processing, the selfishness of my commander wanted the false heroics to be true to demonstrate the prestige of the unit and ordered them re-written. This unlawful order directly contracted the Army’s sworn statement document’s printed instructions which states soldiers are to make their “statement freely without hope of benefit or reward, without threat of punishment, and without coercion, unlawful influence, or unlawful inducement.” My rejecting the commander’s order infuriated him leading to numerous threats over the phone. Nonetheless, I knew that the soldiers’ statements were valid, having corresponded with the drone video. I wasn’t fired that day, nor my team disbanded per my commander’s threats as I ensured my legal footing with the unit lawyer and understanding of the Task Force Commander. Despite this, those awards were approved, but that is a story for another day. Ultimately, and unfortunately, every leader needs to be prepared to mitigate bureaucratic risks and with confidence, but I recommend doing your homework.
"Researching policy and effective networking are good habits and success is habitual, not spontaneous."
The unlawful order situation was an example of risk mitigated, but what is risk mitigation really and how do you do it effectively? With all risk, there are hazards and obstacles. What’s the difference? Obstacles cause hazards and hazards are the dangerous outcomes you seek to prevent. Your mitigation effort should seek to affect the obstacle to prevent it from causing the hazard. Ultimately, by knowing the law regarding sworn statements and having established effective lines of communication with the Task Force lawyer and Task Force Commander, I was able to prevent mission failure from a disbanded team and by maintaining team cohesion.
Researching policy and effective networking are good habits and success is habitual, not spontaneous. Channeling your inner Ross Perot could help develop good risk mitigation habits. No not Ross Perot the politician, rather Ross Perot the businessman who created and sold several businesses (he also planned and hired former Green Berets to conduct a hostage rescue of his employees from Iran in 1979, another reason I dig this guy). His power of delegation brought him immense success. He could have easily been overwhelmed by the pace of business, a risk that threatens any successful venture, but he multiplied his efforts by guiding his people to make decisions on the spot with customers based on his initial guidance. Creating his company’s shared consciousness in this way directly contributed to his success; remote leadership at its finest brought to you by trust and thoughtful direction. I try to channel him as a source of inspiration because my work involves volatility, complexity, and ambiguity. Since I deal with these dynamics, I’ve adjusted my perspective on team member interaction over time. To drive efficiency, I start everybody off with 100 percent of my trust; there is no such thing as needing to earn my trust in a professional setting. I tell everyone this directly to instill confidence from the beginning. I feel confident in taking this approach because almost everybody, before meeting you, has completed some sort of education to obtain the requisite skills to accomplish what lies before them. To compliment that, most times, previous bosses have testified to their competence in some way. My thoughts are: would you be more effective by doing a bunch of other people’s jobs because you don’t trust them or letting them do it themselves because you gave them effective vision, guidance, and direction? Also, failure does not automatically degrade trust but being deceptive and lacking authenticity in effort will. Decisive delegation will get you far, it got Ross to the top.
An analytical mind helps risk mitigation but what I have come to experience is that common sense usually takes the cake. Not rushing, having strategic patience, and listening to others’ perspectives will enable a leader to sense, observe, and review all variables so as not to be tripped up. Being the leader who can clearly identify and mitigate risk while also setting conditions to prevent it is an inspiring figure. Your teammates will come to rely on your competence to ensure success and you will be sought out for mentorship to reproduce this skill in others. So, no risk – no business, but as a leader you do not take risk, rather you eliminate it, so that all that is left of that saying is business.