Building a Culture of De-Risking
Having covered the what and why of de-risking, we now turn to the how: how do you imbue your organization with a culture of de-risking? This journey begins with fostering an environment that values learning and embraces failure as a stepping stone towards success.
Fostering a Learning Culture
Building a culture of de-risking starts with fostering a learning culture. Encourage a mindset of continuous learning and growth within your team. When your team understands that every step – whether it leads to success or failure – is a learning opportunity, it reduces the fear of taking risks. Microsoft’s growth mindset culture, which emphasizes learning from failures and continually improving, is a fine example of this approach.
Embracing Failure as a Stepping Stone
One of the biggest impediments to innovation is the fear of failure. To truly imbue your organization with a culture of de-risking, it’s crucial to foster an environment where failure isn’t shamed, but rather seen as a stepping stone towards success. Companies like SpaceX and Dyson embrace failure as a part of their innovation journey. The numerous failed launches of SpaceX rockets and thousands of prototypes for Dyson’s vacuum cleaners demonstrate their resilience and commitment to learning from failure.
Encouraging Open Communication and Collaboration
Another pillar of a de-risking culture is open communication. Promote transparency about risks and potential failures across all levels of the organization. Encourage team members to voice their concerns and ideas. Moreover, collaboration can bring in diverse perspectives, leading to more robust risk assessment and mitigation strategies. At Pixar, the ‘Braintrust’ meetings – where ideas are openly discussed and critiqued – embody this philosophy.
Incentivizing Risk-Taking
Finally, incentivizing risk-taking can also promote a culture of de-risking. Recognize and reward not only successful innovations but also the daring attempts that didn’t quite make it. This can motivate employees to push boundaries and take calculated risks.
In our next and final section, we will wrap up this extensive guide by illustrating how you can take these strategies and put them into action.
