‘Isn’t it risky?’

Yes, there is risk involved in doing anything new or different. But there is also risk in the current way of doing things. Therefore, it’s important to define risk and to whom the risk applies. Almost always, the risk of the ‘new thing’ of the change needs to signficantly less than the risk of not changing.

The task of change makers is to de-risk change as much as possible. And yes, this is ‘not fair’ (as my kids would say), but it is life.

And risk isn’t general, it is specific, emotional, and full of stories. There is organisational risk, financial risk, security risk, but also risk to the team, to staff members, and of course to those we seek to help. Too often we argue and ‘de-risk’ logically, abstractly and so we focus on organisational and financial risk. And yet, most of us resist change personally, emotionally. We think about our reputation, security, family, and so on. Change makers need to ‘de-risk’ these perspectives too.

So yes, it is risky and so is staying the course. However, choosing the journey is up to us.

Photo by Joshua Sukoff