It may feel like a risky time to consider rewarding risk takers. Yes, it’s tough out there, and the temptation may be to perceive risk as something that should be avoided, at all costs. Just take it steady and slow, and encourage your people to maintain the status quo. Maybe reward employees when they replicate what’s already working, but don’t dare tempt anyone to step outside the comfort zone, especially when it comes to thinking and acting.
That mindset may buy you a long lease on the status quo, which may feel safe at the moment. But when was the last time the status quo produced something exceptional? Something like the iPad, iPod, X-Box, Amazon Kindle, Google or the Human Genome Project. All great successes that arrived on the coat tails of some element of risk. Or consider the successes of some of the more famous risk takers: Bill Gates who dropped out of college to start Microsoft. Or Jeff Bezos, who quit a high-paying job to start up Amazon.com. Both of who chose to push the edge on their potential rather than settle for the status quo.
We’re not all quite as naturally gutsy as Gates and Bezos, though. Sometimes even the most talented folks need a push from a strong leader to make them take the leap and go beyond self-imposed limitations---past the lure of being just good enough. Assigning employees truly challenging or HARD goals (Heartfelt, Animated, Required, Difficult) is one way 100% Leaders encourage this kind of innovation.
It’s your goal, and that means you’re in charge and your fingers are firmly on the controls. But by lifting the often stifling restrictions found in the typical goal (namely a requirement that it be achievable and realistic), you open your people up to a world of previously unexplored possibilities. A world where taking an element of risk can provide a big pay off. Instead of issuing a warning that says, “Hold on, don’t take too big a bite, stay within your limitations,” HARD goals send the message of, “What I propose is going to be a challenge, and I don’t have all the answers. I’m depending on your knowledge and innovation to get us there.”
Get your people feeling safe to step up to the HARD goal plate by openly rewarding employees who show incentive to take a risk: even when the result of that risk is only partial success or failure. Of course, I don’t mean foolish and wild risk. But rather real and valuable risk, where someone pushed past the status quo and tested his or her limits to try and effect something great. Create enviable heroes, workplace celebrities that people want to emulate, whenever anyone goes beyond doing what’s easy--- to do what’s right.
