Photo by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplash
You don’t have to be an Angela Merkel or a Nikola Tesla to make a difference in your organization. Anybody who pays attention can see things that can be improved. Maybe it’s a work process that can be streamlined, or a new customer group that can be approached. Managers who are open to new ideas and are willing to take risks to make things better gain the respect of their team members, are more quickly promoted, and develop a reputation as “go to” people for the development of new ideas.
Leadership requires bold thinking. Not every innovation works out, of course, but failure to innovate creates stagnation, and stagnation leads to reduced market share and, ultimately, failure. So, it’s crucial that you support creative ideas and put them to work. Your enthusiasm for innovation and risk-taking encourages others to support your ideas and to help you implement them.
Risk-taking doesn’t come naturally to everybody. If you are a person who prefers a more stable, risk-averse situation, you will need to make an effort to change this attitude. The realities of work in the 21st century require that managers and leaders be innovators and risk-takers. The biggest reason that people are reluctant to take risks is fear of failure. The truth is that everybody fails. Everyone makes mistakes. Your challenge is to learn from your mistakes and not repeat them. Effective leaders choose to innovate and take risks, and they don’t allow their fear of failure to stop them.
If innovation and risk-taking are not your strong suits, here are some tips you might consider:
If you pay attention, you will notice that good ideas are everywhere. Effective managers and leaders aren’t always exceptional innovators or legendary risk-takers on their own, but they recognize good ideas when they see them and support those skills in others. If you encourage innovation and risk-taking in your team, everyone will benefit.
Finding out how well you or your leaders perform the skill of Innovation and Risk-taking can help determine the need for development. A 360 Feedback Assessment is an ideal tool for measuring and tracking the performance of Innovation and Risk-taking along with other critical leadership skills. If you are interested in measuring critical leadership skills for your organization using a 360 Assessment, click here.