March is in many Asian countries a month associated with graduation and leaning towards the end of the school calendar. Some who graduated in high school and decided they do not wish to go for higher education had taken their first risk of adventure to get themselves a job to support him/her and their families. Many college graduates hold a higher card in society and are confident to get a good paying job, a well deserved salary to be able to bring him/her comforts. Now come to think of it, recalling my first job ever, was a risk I took. And I have been thankful for the experiences I have learned.
In the workplace, issues concern risk management rely mainly on two things: 1) leadership approach and 2) decision making. Businesses, offices, organizations, and institutions apply different mechanisms and use different dynamic approaches to managing risk in their workplace. Personally, observing and learning from great leaders, I believe that witty decisions made in times of crisis are one of the most essential parts that bring organizations success and continuous growth.
My concerns for the leaders in the organization regarding risk management are:
1) Leaders who fear decision making
I met a number of leaders who feared to speak up, confront issues, or make a major decision. He/she always blamed the group, the secretary, or any person involved in the project. This kind of leader wanted to have their picture perfect projection and anything negative off the record simply to cover up to be able to get their job promotion to a higher management level.
2) Learning Leader
Some books suggest that you must surround yourself with people that are smarter than you, build your core team by gathering workers who will support you, and, put yourself in the position where you are the one who calls for decisions. However, in reality, it does not always work that way. My experience in some offices, I was surrounded by some incompetent people, my team was not strong, and problems went on. But I decided to continue to learn and build a strong team. Together with my boss, we were later proven to be one of the most successful management teams because we believed in continuous learning. We were able to change our environment and encourage people around us with energetic character that helped to change our work performance.
3) Open-minded Leader
Sometimes your relationship with the manager or colleague is not filled with roses. It could be sour or even bitter. If you could just step forward and take a risk, I believe there is a foundation of mutual respect and trust you deserve from your workplace. Build from this foundation, being an open minded person is one way to welcome new directions or new ideas.
4) A Risk Taker!
Prepare yourself for failure might be one suggestion that suit leaders who are risk takers. There are usually plan A, B, C, or D! It is a good idea to have a contingency plan. Be proactive therefore, we must be prepared for things to go wrong from not only an operational point of view, but also a leadership standpoint.
Take note that risk management involves several factors such as culture, attitude, resilience, financial, political, and knowledge. Some leaders push it to the limit, some rather take a low risk, some challenge the norm, and some waste too much time calculating risks. From my point of view, the leadership role concerns risk you have to take and decision making that can make or break you. As Friedrich Nietzsche said, “To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult”.
