Risk

Is leadership facilitating or inhibiting the Detect—Assess—Respond—Learn process? How does leadership help the Risk Control Factors function individually and in concert? From your leadership perspective, what factors need the most work to ensure your Risk Immune System is performing? Do members of your organization identify with and feel committed

One of his favorite sayings was about assigning clear responsibility: “If three people are responsible for feeding the dog—the dog is going to starve.” If you’re not sure who’s responsible, it’s time to figure it out. If you’re a leader, and unless you can confirm others have the responsibility—you probably need to assume you do.

Most battles are won before the contest begins—by those who are most prepared.

Action and other Risk Control Factors are invariably interconnected. For example, communication is often necessary to act, while narrative and bias either enable or inhibit our ability to act effectively. It’s a complex system, but ultimately, if we can’t overcome our coefficient of friction, the gears won’t turn.

Effective action begins when we overcome inertia. It demands recognition of the need to act and the courage to take the step—absent that, inertia rules. Once in motion, we must constantly surveil our actions to determine if they are contextually appropriate, or if their intended effect backfires.

SYMPTOMS OF ADAPTABILITY STRUGGLES Two Beats Behind. Teams that do not adapt lag their more agile competitors—with predictable results. Frozen by Fear of Failure. Frightened by the specter of failure (or accepting responsibility for an adaptation that didn’t work), leaders and their organizations remain unchanged as failure overwhelms them. Superch

SYMPTOMS OF TIMING CHALLENGES Hurry Up and Wait. Poorly timed decisions can often cause some parts of the plan to be rushed, and others to be painfully delayed. Undercooked Cake. Taking a cake out of the oven too early means a soggy, unappetizing mess. Cutting corners and speeding up processes can compromise the end result. Jumping the Gun. Sprinte

We tend to look for leaders to provide something few ever really could—salvation from the things that threaten us. But the more constructive analysis would be to acknowledge that the real requirement in the people who lead us is not status but actual leadership, or the ability to effectively oversee the multidimensional Risk Control Factors—to turn

Is your organization positioned to adapt to changing conditions? Does a preoccupation with efficiency inhibit your ability to adapt? What other factors inhibit your ability to adapt to changing conditions? The Bottom Line Every threat is different—so too must be our responses. Constantly changing threats demand continuous adaptation.