Playing safe is risky for organisations/businesses because it is likely to result in lost opportunities and falling behind competitors /comparators in a fast paced ever changing business environment. So why do organisations appoint and encourage managers at every level to play it safe ?
The culture in some organisations is risk adverse. Often these are organisation where a blame culture exists. Hence play it safe. Some times it a result of senior management/board being over concerned to protect the reputation of the organisation . Therefore don’t do anything that might shake public confidence in the organisation if it backfires.
I have heard head hunters( specialist recruitment consultants) seeking to fill a senior post in such organisations refer to candidates needing to demonstrate, “a safe pair of hands”. Further down the organisation this attitude can stifle initiative and creativity. But especially in large organisations there will always be a few managers who adopt a philosophy of better to seek forgiveness than permission. They know getting authorisation from above is laborious as the request disappears into a formal decision making process which will absolve any one person of responsibility for agreeing it. So they go ahead and do it, if it works great, senior management may even commend it , if it doesn’t well it may be an official reprimand but usually they get away with it because in such a large organisation they can operate under the radar of senior management. And the defence is to have sound reasoning and the fact that whilst you didn’t have permission there is nothing in the policy or procedure that specifically outlaws such an action.
But clearly managers shouldn’t have to operate below the radar , the culture needs to encourage creativity and initiative. This needs to come from the organisations leadership. In my experience if you have a director who likes to have a loose hold on the reins, has confidence in their managers then they the tone they set is it is ok to take risks. They tell managers that they make the decisions so they can accept or reject the advice of HR and Finance but will be accountable so if things don’t work out they should be prepared to provide the detailed reasoning that led them to take this action. At which point they also make it clear that as they are accountable it is not an acceptable response to say HR/Finance told me to do it. Of course this only works if when things go wrong , as they inevitable will, the Director is willing to tell the CEO and board they take full responsibility. If managers know the Director has their back they will be more prepared to take risks. Otherwise every one will just play it safe.
