Unless you’re naturally gregarious (which I am not), starting a conversation with someone you don’t know very well isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do.
This is where the “icebreaker” comes in…
No doubt you’ve heard the term before. Usually, we associate it with work gatherings or social events with people you don’t know, not important discussions about a company’s strategy.
However, perhaps nowhere is an icebreaker more important AND valuable than during conversations on charting a company’s future course.
One trait CEOs and other executive leaders typically have is they are strong visionaries, which of course is a great quality for any top-level company leader to have. The book Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination that Will Get you More of What you Want from your Business defines the characteristics of a visionary as:
“You think strategically, always seeing the whole picture and connecting the dots. You see things that others can’t. This positions you perfectly to create and champion the company vision. You help the rest of the team understand what’s going to be necessary to stay ahead. You are great at turning your best ideas about the future into a vision.”
However, this quality does come with some “drawbacks,” which I put in quotes to say these aren’t a negative, just the reality. The drawback is this – executive leaders tend to focus 100% on the strategic goal without considering all the in-between stuff.
In the same paragraph as the quote above, Rocket Fuel… points this out by saying of the visionary:
“You are great at turning your best ideas about the future into a vision – as long as you don’t have to implement any of those plans.”
As ERM professionals, it’s our job to get the CEOs and other decision-makers to think about the in-between – to ask questions and challenge assumptions. By their nature, the visionary generates lots of ideas – some are good, others not so much, but then there are those select few ideas that will catapult the company into the future.
To sift through these ideas without coming across as a formal analysis process, there are three “icebreaker” questions that can be asked to ensure executives are risk-aware in their decisions.
Icebreaker Question #1 – What could get in the way of achieving the desired outcome?
…or to ask in a slightly different way while mentioning the word ‘risk.’ What risks could prevent us from achieving the strategic goal?
Now, many will get the impression that this means a barrier to achievement period, which it can be. However, it could also mean not reaching the level leaders were hoping to achieve.
For example, if the goal is to increase revenue by 40% over the next three years, it may end up being that only a 20% increase in revenue happens. Technically, revenues did increase, just not to the level leaders were hoping.
Therefore, it’s not all or nothing achievement…
The purpose of the question is to simply help the executive leaders understand and consider what could get in the way of them fully realizing their vision.
Icebreaker Question #2 – What risks are being introduced by this objective or initiative?
The exact focus of this question will depend on if you’re talking about the goal itself, which usually occurs over a 3-5 year timeline, or an initiative undertaken for achieving the goal, which usually occurs in 1-year increments.
The goal may be a 40% increase in revenue (goal), but what will the company do to achieve the 40% increase? It could be introducing new product(s) or expanding the company’s geographic footprint. (initiative)
Whatever the context, the question is designed to focus on those activities the company is doing that could introduce new risks or exacerbate existing ones.
This is a slight spin of Newton’s Third Law, which says ‘for every action (force) in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Understanding the risks and determining whether each and all of these new or increased risks are acceptable will be extremely helpful for leaders trying to nail down the goal.
Icebreaker Question #3 – What is the risk of doing nothing?
After answering the first two questions, executives may still have the goal of increasing revenue of 40%, but what would happen if no new product or expansion, or some other initiative for accomplishing the goal, was not undertaken?
The truth is things are always changing, and companies have to adapt to this change or else lose market share, or experience even worse consequences in some cases.
Take Blackberry for example…
Remember how they were referred to as “crackberry” at the peak of their popularity? At the time, you would have never expected the company to fade into obscurity just a few years later. But that’s exactly what happened though because the company became comfortable with the status quo and didn’t take the competition seriously.
What Blackberry did NOT do was game plan different scenarios to try and understand what could happen. Had they done so, they may have begun to understand how Apple could capture their market share with their innovative products like the Apple iPhone.
Evaluating these scenarios will unearth different risks that you can then compare to determine what’s acceptable and realistic.
However, the purpose isn’t necessarily to understand every risk, but rather to get decision-makers talking, with the ultimate goal of increasing leaders’ confidence the objective will be net.
And the only way to do this is to understand the environment around you and not have blinders on like a horse in a parade.
These types of icebreaker questions like the ones listed above can spark dialogue that will help decision-makers understand and adapt to the environment they are working in.
What other questions could prompt additional discussions about risk(s) to achieving strategic goals?
I’m interested in hearing your perspective on ways to get executive leaders to consider risk in their strategic planning process. Feel free to share your thoughts below or click over to join the conversation on LinkedIn.
If you are struggling to spark discussions like this, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly to explore ways to jumpstart this invaluable component of understanding risks to achieving strategic objectives.
