Make sure your decisions and how you communicate them balance logic and emotion. But as leaders, we are responsible for considering all the benefits, perspectives and needs of our businesses. Yes, emotion always plays a role in decision-making. The challenge here is the emotion behind the phrase. The intent is fine, but don’t stop critically thinking about the choice or decision simply because it is prefaced by this phrase. “Out of an abundance of caution, we have made this decision” means a choice was made to mitigate risk. Again, I have no problem with this phrase and what it's imparting - on the surface.īut when people use it to justify a decision, that decision is too often taken as an unassailable point. The goal is to manage but not eliminate - because the elimination of risk is nearly impossible. Being a successful human being requires us to look for, understand and mitigate risks. Too much focus on "being safe" just isn't good business practice.įollowing my concerns with “be safe” comes this phrase: “out of an abundance of caution.” Caution is important - we need to be wise about mitigating and overcoming risks. Make sure that you are willing to take risks, and encourage your team to do so in the areas of marketing, sales, product development and customer service. Keep this in mind: It is clear that we can play it too safe in many areas of our businesses. When we don’t distinguish the difference in our mind, we move from awareness to cocooned and scared. But we can be too wary, too guarded and too careful. Of course, we want everyone to be unharmed and healthy. And for the “cautious and conservative” definition, synonyms include wary, unadventurous, guarded and careful. First, for the “free from harm” definition, some synonyms are protected, secure, sheltered, unharmed, unhurt and uninjured. But I want everyone to be mentally and psychologically healthy too.Īnd that’s where I think we have to be a bit careful with the word "safe." Consider synonyms for two definitions of the word safe. Do I want people to be physically safe during these challenging times? Of course I do. This phrase graces more email signature lines and is used at the end of more conversations than you might believe. Will you remain fully remote? Will you create a hybrid model of work? Engage your team in this discussion because they have a clear stake in what the definition of "new normal" will be. While you may not yet know what the "new normal" will be, it is time to think about and plan for the future of work. But will “the new normal” all be a worse kind of different? I highly doubt it. Some features, applications, and services may not be available in all regions or all languages.Without question, the future will look different because of what we have experienced and learned in 2020.
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