Risk

Recognizing Risk

People take risks whether or not they take action. To gather support for your process, understand the risks that participants will be taking. Lay out the advantages a disadvantages of addressing the problem. Be as frank and as open as possible. The chance for an effective solution, an enhanced reputation or credibility , and cooperation on other projects may be enough to outweigh the risks from the participant's perspective.

Working on a project requires taking a stand on an issue even if the stand is merely that it would be worthwhile to find a solution. People invest their political influence, professional expertise, resources, or social standing when they agree to work on a project and, thus, weigh the risks before committing themselves.

Decisionmakers and internal participants may also hesitate to act or to adopt innovative approaches to solve the problem. Internal participants or teams may be afraid of:

 
• Change (We have never done it that way.)
• Disagreements (Mr. Y may not like that.)
• Losing control (The data might be interpreted or used in a different context.)
• Credibility (We may be held accountable for preliminary data that may be incorrect.)
• Commitment (We might be held to promises that later may be infeasible.)

Working With Risk

The easiest way to avoid risk is to do and say nothing. Unfortunately, this may simply invite other risks and compound the problem. Bring a particular risk out in the open and explore the possibilities to help avoid or lessen the risk. The methods listed below are only a few me asures to acknowledge and work with risk for both external and internal participants.

 
• Assess the value of the action. (Is it worth taking the risk?)
• Consider the consequences of NOT taking the action --you may lose credibility,
• Determine what risks you and your agency are taking. and participants may lose faith in the process.
• Join in partnerships to spread out the risk
• Explain why the problem must be addressed
• Recognize who is taking the risk.
• Quantify the risk others are taking--weigh the positives and negatives.
• Explain the need for them to take the risk. (Others might not see what you see as obvious.)
• Be as open, upfront, and honest about the risk as possible.
• Recognize that various groups have differing agendas and that people will disagree.
• Build flexibility into plans and schedules to adapt to changes.

Risk and uncertainty should be considered at all stages of the decisionmaking process as appropriate to the level of detail.

Go On

Executive Summary Tour Priority <------> Change

Handyman's Tour Politics <----> Limitations

Helpful Hints Tour Hidden Agendas <-------> End tour