4 C's of creating a risk-taking culture in your organization

I’m not up to date on the latest happenings in hockey, but there is a quote by Wayne Gretzky that perfectly sums up risk-taking. “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.” The retail world and its customers are moving and changing fast, especially these days. The customer is changing more in one day than they have in the last five years. As a leader of a team of ten or 10,000, it’s essential to create a culture of risk-taking.

Innovation is a creative process. Allowing your team to be creative means setting the foundation by understanding the customer. That will empower you and your teams to take risks by innovating the right thing at the right time.

For example, we know our customers are busier than ever, they often find themselves deciding between what’s best for their budget and what’s most convenient. That’s why we took a risk and broke the mold to design Walmart+. With a membership, we can plus up our core value propositions and help solve many of their concerns related to saving time and money with services that can keep them focused on what matters most to them.

Walmart has been on a transformational journey for several years now, reimagining ways to create seamless omni-shopping experiences that save our customers time and inspire them. From thinking through new store types to creating a membership program, all of these experiences require some level of risk-taking.

4 ways to develop a risk-taking culture:

1. Commit. Bring your organization’s leadership together and commit to a change in culture. This is an important step. This signals the first step towards cultivating a risk-taking culture.
2. Communicate. Tell your team clearly and regularly that taking risks is a step towards innovation.
3. Calculate. It’s okay to create guidelines around certain high-risk projects. For example, giving your team a budget and a dedicated timeline to execute can help them feel supported. Risk is often associated with fear, setting guidelines can help quell the fear. 
4. Celebrate. Wins, losses, and anything in between should be valued. Whether it’s a lesson learned or a grand slam, a thoughtful risk should be celebrated.

I mentioned before that the best ideas don’t come from me, they come from my team and I truly mean that. When everyone has the same goal – do what’s best for the customer, no risk can be too big or too small.