To end the year, our regular contributor, Marcus Clifford – the PrintBoosterologist writes about how to build a resilient and dynamic print business through a different approach to risk management
If you incorporate some of these elements into your daily activities, you will be better off and closer to realising your desired growth!
In the ever-evolving print sector, businesses face a complex landscape filled with competition, technological advancements, and shifting customer expectations.
You know this, of course!
Businesses can’t operate without risk. Economic, technological, environmental, and competitive factors introduce obstacles companies must manage and overcome. Business owners truly deserve a medal for navigating this volatile environment, but maybe try a different approach in 2025 that aligns with your growth aspirations and creating an engaged workforce.
A proactive approach to risk management that fosters innovation and growth while uniting teams toward shared goals is a way forward to review.
Shape or Be Shaped
What are your organisation’s black swans, grey rhinos, and silver linings? Understanding these concepts and their implications for your team helps manage risks and seize opportunities. Facilitate ownership from all your team, engage them and add it to all your meetings as an agenda item.
- Black Swans: Unpredictable, high-impact events that can disrupt your business.
- Grey Rhinos: Probable and high-impact risks are often overlooked until too late.
- Silver Linings: Hidden opportunities that arise from challenges, offering pathways for competitive advantage.
The question isn’t whether your business will encounter risks but how prepared you are to manage them? A positive, open mindset, combined with access to reliable data and engaged teams, can transform your approach to risk management from a defensive stance to an enabler of growth.
Redefining Risk Management: A Catalyst for Growth
Risk management isn’t solely about avoiding negative outcomes. When approached strategically, it can serve as a framework for decision-making, a driver of innovation, and a tool to galvanise teams. By identifying risks early and leveraging the collective energy and goodwill of your team, you can transform challenges into growth opportunities.
The Role of Positive Psychology in Risk Management
Positive psychology emphasises strengths, resilience, and well-being, aligning closely with effective risk management. By cultivating psychological capital (PsyCap) in your workforce, your organisation becomes better equipped to anticipate, assess, and address risks. PsyCap comprises:
- Hope: Building pathways to overcome challenges.
- Efficacy: Fostering confidence to take on and persist in tasks.
- Resilience: Encouraging recovery from setbacks.
- Optimism: Maintaining a positive outlook for the future.
Embedding these traits within your organisational culture creates a workforce that thrives in uncertainty and contributes meaningfully to risk mitigation strategies.
Motivating Teams to Embrace Risk Awareness
Risk management often carries a stigma of negativity or fear. Reframing it as an opportunity for growth can shift this perception. Teams that see risk discussions as avenues for innovation and improvement are more likely to engage actively.
To motivate your teams:
- Highlight Opportunities: Frame risk assessments as pathways to growth.
- Celebrate Preparedness: Reward proactive behaviour.
- Use Strength-Based Approaches: Leverage individual and team strengths to address risks.
Engaged teams bring diverse perspectives to the table, enriching your risk assessment processes and leading to more effective outcomes.
Cultivating an Open Mindset. By maintaining an open mindset, your organisation becomes more agile and responsive, turning potential threats into opportunities for innovation.
An open mindset fosters adaptability, creativity, and collaboration—essential traits for navigating uncertainty. To encourage this mindset:
- Encourage Curiosity: Promote an environment where questions and exploration are valued.
- Practice Cognitive Flexibility: Train teams to consider alternative scenarios and solutions.
- Embrace Diversity: Diverse teams provide richer perspectives on risks and opportunities.
Creating a Culture of Inclusion and Values
Preparedness flourishes in a culture where employees feel included and valued. When team members trust that their voices matter, they are more likely to identify risks and contribute to solutions.
Key strategies include:
- Normalising Risk Discussions: Make risk assessment a routine part of meetings.
- Fostering Psychological Safety: Ensure employees can speak up without fear of judgment.
- Aligning with Core Values: Tie risk management practices to your organisation’s mission, making them a shared responsibility.
- Inclusion transforms risk management from a top-down directive into a collaborative effort, enhancing the quality of insights and strategies.
Become Climate Engineers – Business leaders act as “climate engineers,” shaping the emotional and psychological environment of their organisations. By cultivating a positive climate, leaders enable teams to excel, even in challenging circumstances.
A positive organisational climate amplifies preparedness, ensuring your business remains resilient and dynamic.
Verbalising Risks: Transparency as a Cornerstone
- Verbalising risks openly—discussing potential threats and strategies—empowers employees and fosters a culture of transparency. Encouraging open dialogue includes:
- Regular Risk Reviews: Create forums for discussing risks at all levels.
- Cross-functional input: Involve diverse teams to uncover blind spots.
- Constructive Feedback: Frame risk discussions as learning opportunities.
Building a Legacy of Preparedness
A prepared business is a resilient business. By integrating positive psychology principles into risk management, organisations can build a legacy of adaptability, innovation, and strength.
Through this lens, risk management becomes more than a defensive measure—it evolves into an empowering and transformative practice that unites teams and positions businesses for long-term growth. In a world marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), this proactive approach to risk ensures your organisation not only survives but thrives.
Reach out for an engaging discussion about how to transform challenges into opportunities. My approach integrates practical strategies. Print sector knowledge and expertise with insights from positive psychology and neuroscience to help you succeed.
Marcus Clifford
Print Sector Business Coach & Consultant
📞 0774 381 8806 | 📧 Marcus@printboosterologist.solutions
