Every week, you probably face all kinds of decisions you may not feel completely certain about. Maybe you’re deciding whether to approve a new pay structure or invest in a new prospecting tool. Or perhaps you’re wondering if you should let a sales rep test a different pitch on a big client or shift your budget toward a new market segment. When you hesitate, it’s not that you lack vision. It’s often because you care. You don’t want to make the wrong call.

The problem with waiting too long, though, is that waiting itself can become a risk. Karin Hurt and David Dye, the founders of Let’s Grow Leaders, say it’s important to keep moving forward — even if you don’t have all the information. They say that when you’re willing to take appropriate risks, you create momentum. You don’t force action, but you give people permission to act.

In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share guidance from Dye and Hurt on how to decide if a risk is appropriate and how to practice it without overthinking it.

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Is The Risk Worth Taking?

According to Dye and Hurt, you can assess if a risk is worth it with a simple gut check. Consider whether you could recover if it went sideways. And if it doesn’t work, is the damage contained, or would it create real harm? Truly ask yourself: Is waiting actually safer or just more comfortable?

How To Practice Taking Risks

  • Follow the 80% rule. Dye and Hurt recommend deciding on something when you have 80% of the information you want. Do this for 30 days. Ask yourself if waiting will add insight or just delay action.
  • Conduct a decision debrief. They recommend logging decisions you make under uncertainty. Then, review those decisions a week later. Was the risk manageable? What would you repeat or change?
  • Embrace the “let’s try it” challenge. Once a day, Hurt and Dye suggest using the phrase to move something forward that’s stalled. Notice what changes when you stop waiting for certainty.

Taking reasonable risks at work isn’t about fearlessness. Instead, it’s about committing to forward movement, even when you don’t have all the answers. Whether you’re testing a new sales process or trying a new strategy, the more you try, the more information you’ll get and the more confident you’ll become in your decisions.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Karin Hurt and David Dye are the founders of Let’s Grow Leaders. They are internationally recognized leadership experts who help human-centered leaders achieve breakthrough results.