EP78: Your Relationship with Risk [in Leadership]
WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP?
Risk often gets a bad rap. But what would happen if we explored the other side of risk?
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(The notes below are only a brief summary of what is discussed in the podcast. Be sure to listen to get all of the goodness! If you would like a full transcription of the episode, please send an email request to: angie@angie-robinson.com. We’d be happy to provide that!)
Just a quick ‘programming note’….we are talking about risk in leadership here, but, just like pretty much everything I talk about, this topic is relevant for more than leadership. It is applicable for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and pretty much anyone for any area of life.
I recently workshop around risk with a group of leaders. This group of leaders happen to have gone through Insights Discovery, the introductory part of it a few months ago. And now we are taking the Insights work a little bit deeper. So I developed a workshop around taking risk through the lens of the Insights Color energies. The topic of risk I think is really important as you think about your own leadership or business.
I’m not talking about how to take risks in this episode. Instead, we are exploring your relationship with risk. Things like: what do you think about risk and what do you do when it comes to taking risk?
Let’s start with the definition of RISK:
It is the possibility that something bad or unpleasant will happen. It's a situation involving exposure to danger.
When you hear or read that definition, does it make you excited to take a risk? For me - that does not sound like something that I am just jumping for joy to take on. Yet when you Google or think about risk and leadership or risk and entrepreneurship, you will find all kinds of articles that say it's necessary. It's a necessary skill. In fact, research shows that leaders who take risks are more likely to be positively perceived by their employees regardless of whether or not they succeed.
There was one article where the title was “No Guts, No Glory”. This is essentially saying that if you don't take risks, then you don't get any glory. And it talks about how taking risk is truly essential for entrepreneurs who really want to succeed because it really requires you to push outside of your boundaries. So we have this definition of risk which is not great, it might make some people feel a little bit uncomfortable. Yet we have the message that it's such an important skill in order for us to be successful in our leadership or our business. Two sides of the coin here.
AND… I agree that risk is a critical skill for moving forward. There are many reasons why it is important to have this risk-taking ability in leadership. It fosters innovation. It creates trust from your employees and your clients / customers when they see you doing things that push outside of the comfort zone, that move things forward. It will also inspire others. You will learn and you will grow actually faster than if you don't take risks and you will create better results when risks are taken. So I agree that it's actually a really important thing. Without taking risk, we might just stay in the same place.
Risk is pushing outside of the comfort zone. It's this place of uncertainty. We don't know what's going to happen, which is what makes it risky, but it's also where growth and innovation can happen and steps forward will happen. I also think it's important to highlight that when you think about taking risk, it's not always just the “big stuff”. It's not necessarily jumping out of planes and quitting your 9 to 5 job. It could be things like delivering a message that you don't want to deliver, saying yes to a project that you don't have any experience in, delegating work that you've always done and now you're giving it to someone else, asking for a raise, asking for money. A lot of the things that we do could be considered risks because there is some exposure to the unknown and to “danger”, because we don't know what the result will be.
Why does your relationship with risk matter?
Because what you think about risk will create your results around the situations that might be considered risky (if you even take the risk at all).
Your relationship with the risk is what you think about risk and that is going to create the results that you get.
Just for a moment, stop and think about risk. When I talk about uncertainty and exposure to danger, what feeling comes up for you? Do you get a little sweaty in the palms, a little scared, a little afraid? Or do you get excited and motivated and charged up because you like taking risks? Just noticing what feeling comes up is very telling in itself. That is already an indicator of your relationship with risk. Either it's something that you are potentially nervous about or even afraid of, or it's something that you actually embrace and take on wholeheartedly.
Let's look at some examples of how what you think about a risk matters.
Trying a new food. This could be considered a risk because of the uncertainty. The risks might be things like you might get sick or you might not like it or maybe you’ll be allergic to it. And if those are the thoughts that you're thinking, you're probably going to have this feeling of nervousness. What do you do when you’re nervous? YOu probably don’t try the food at all. And the result is that you miss out on the experience of trying something new or potentially even having a new favorite food. But because the thoughts you had associated with that risk produced this feeling of being nervous and drove those actions of not trying it, you're missing out on it, right?
Giving a presentation at work. So what are the potential risks in giving a presentation that you've never done before? Some of the thoughts might be that you could bomb, or they might think you’re a terrible presenter or people might not listen. And with those types of thoughts you might feel apprehensive. From that feeling you might not do the presentation at all. Or you might choose to do it, but do it in a way that is really simplistic, safe and comfortable. The results are you might miss out on a great opportunity or you create conditions where you actually do bomb the presentation!
Asking for a promotion or a new leadership role. The risks are that they might say no or you might stumble when asking for it. And so those thoughts about the risk are going to generate some sort of a feeling of, again, apprehension or a lack of confidence. And what happens then? You just don't ask. You just stay in your current role and maybe stay dissatisfied. Because in general, when there is a risk presented, this possible exposure to something unpleasant, our brain likes to default to all the things that could go wrong. It's just doing that in a way to protect you, protect you from that failure or that embarrassment.
The Flip Side
I encourage you to flip that definition of risk on its head and think about what is the other side of risk. Risk could also be a situation that results in success, in a lesson, in a gain, in some rewards, in innovation, right?There's a whole other side to the definition that I think we need to give some air time to. One way to do that is to ask the question: “What else could be true?”.
In the example about trying a new food - it’s true that you might get sick or not like it. But what else could be true? You might love it. You might find something that you've never experienced before that you absolutely love.
Or giving a presentation…sure, you could bomb or people could think you’re a terrible presenter. But what else could be true? You could be amazing You could get exposure. You could gain experience.
In asking for a new leadership role, sure - they might say no. You might stumble when you ask the question. But what else could be true? They might say yes. They might point all the reasons why you are the right person for the job.
There is a whole other side to risk and that is what I want to encourage you to explore when it comes to your relationship with risk. When we open ourselves to the other side, we open ourselves up to possibilities that may actually bring us closer to the results that we want. Now, of course I understand that sometimes that other side is still going to give you the answer of no, I don't want to go for it. But at least you're giving air time to both sides and you can make a better informed decision instead of making decisions out of the feeling of the fear of the uncertain.
A Risk Taker
When you think about the attributes and the characteristics of somebody who is a risk taker, what descriptors come to mind?
You might be thinking things like someone who is bold and courageous, decisive and confident, a go getter and creative. That might be true for some people, but is it true for everybody?
I say no. It's just not true that you have to have a certain personality style to be considered a risk taker. Anybody can take risks. What will make a difference is really understanding what your own style is and bringing awareness to what your approach to risk might look like. When you are aware of that, you can then decide what you can leverage more and what might be getting in your way, so you can make some intentional shifts where it makes sense.
Don’t get caught in the “I’m not a risk taker” mentality. Consider shifting that to “I'm someone who can take risk in a way that works for me.”
What You Can Do
Do a quick little self assessment. When you think about taking risks, what comes up for you? If you were to put yourself on a spectrum, the left side being “I don't take any risks at all” and the right side being “I'm all in on the risk” - where would you place yourself on that spectrum? There is no right or wrong. There is no good or bad. It's just helpful to know - it gives you a little bit of a foundation and a starting point.
Think about a potential risk you are facing. What comes up for you? What are all the thoughts that your brain presents to you? Write them all down. Are they thoughts that are going to keep you stuck and hold you back? If so - answer the question: what else could be true? What are the other possible results that could happen? Write all of the possibilities down. Does the upside of the risk outweigh the potential downsides?
Take some action and see what happens. You won’t know until you try. And learn from the results.
What do you think?
What is your relationship with risk?
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