Failure !! The most dreaded word in any major change initiative. It has always been interesting to see how organisations riding the trough of change consider options that are created to manage a key word 'risk'.

Organisations plan change as there needs to be a perfect story line on why it should work and if it does than what is the necessary impact it will have. As perfection would have it, the essence of planning is an attempt to consider what can be 'perceived' as failure and than ensuring that its possibly mitigated.

Sounds simple !! Actually, not. The complexity of integrating change and keeping it a smooth curve that presents itself with a 'result' is dynamic and dynamism by nature implies plans that need to be constantly re-written (never a good thing, which anyone with a tad bit of experience will share).

Think about this?

We are negatively programmed and hence we survive !!
Risk is an essence of our programming and a way to handle what we 'think we know' or what 'we don't know'.
Risk creates a focus on failure and creates 'the footfall of perfection'.
Perfection occupies the thin line of procrastination.
Procrastination is delay.

The above is 'linearity' in thinking and more the repetitive pattern, higher is the impact of developing a modulated (self -fulfilling in simple words) risk based thinking. The focus naturally aligns to build a safety fence which keeps the team away from the reason of performance.

Keeping a focus on risks is important but it should never marginalise the larger picture and the impact that it has on the 'team will' to deliver.

Rather let us think this way:

We are negatively programmed and hence we survive !!
Risk is an essence of our programming and a way to handle what we 'think we know' or what 'we don't know'.
'What we know' is good and requires minimum 'risk evasiveness'. 'What we don't know' needs a dependency check on the impact it may have.
Task the risks with specific owners who manage and report effectively. They create the cycle of continual improvement. 'Fix permanently'.
'Fix permanently' to deliver value always. Value is the real measure of perfection.
Delivering value eliminates procrastination.

So it is clear. Failure is an option !! Teams do not need it. Creating the right placebo for change creates a smooth, harmonious impact that delivers customer value. This should be the only impact that change should strive for.