What do you do if your leadership development coaching involves taking strategic risks?

1 Assess the context

Before you encourage your coachee to take a strategic risk, you need to understand the context and the potential consequences. What is the problem or opportunity that the risk is addressing? What are the goals and expectations of the stakeholders? What are the benefits and costs of taking or not taking the risk? How much uncertainty and ambiguity are involved? How will the risk affect the coachee's reputation, credibility, and relationships? By asking these questions, you can help your coachee evaluate the risk and its alignment with their vision, values, and purpose.

2 Explore the options

Once you have a clear picture of the context, you can help your coachee generate and analyze different options for taking the risk. What are the possible actions, outcomes, and scenarios? What are the assumptions, evidence, and data behind each option? What are the pros and cons of each option? How feasible, desirable, and viable are they? How do they fit with the coachee's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? By exploring the options, you can help your coachee think creatively and critically about the risk and its alternatives.

3 Plan the execution

After you have narrowed down the options, you can help your coachee plan the execution of the risk. What are the steps, resources, and timelines involved? What are the indicators, criteria, and measures of success? What are the potential obstacles, risks, and mitigation strategies? How will the coachee communicate, collaborate, and influence others in the process? How will the coachee monitor, evaluate, and adapt to the feedback and results? By planning the execution, you can help your coachee prepare and implement the risk in a systematic and effective way.

4 Support the learning

During and after the execution of the risk, you can help your coachee learn from the experience. What are the key insights, lessons, and takeaways? What are the achievements, challenges, and failures? What are the positive and negative emotions and reactions? How did the risk affect the coachee's growth, confidence, and impact? How can the coachee apply, share, and leverage the learning for future risks? By supporting the learning, you can help your coachee reflect and improve on their risk-taking skills and mindset.

5 Foster the culture

Finally, you can help your coachee foster a culture of strategic risk-taking in their organization. How can the coachee recognize, reward, and celebrate risk-taking behaviors and outcomes? How can the coachee model, mentor, and coach others to take strategic risks? How can the coachee create, promote, and sustain a safe and supportive environment for risk-taking? How can the coachee influence and align the organizational vision, values, and policies with risk-taking? By fostering the culture, you can help your coachee spread and sustain the impact of their risk-taking.