Risk Taking Within the Agency

When an agency first takes a meeting with a new client, one of the first questions asked should evaluate the client’s tolerance for risk taking. The client will likely share a marketer’s point of view and the cooperate viewpoint. When the agency gathers this information, it will understand the probability of success with the strategic approach, and will know how hard it can push the client and the work.

Although agencies usually ask clients that question, they often do not ask that question internally. When an agency has workers that are willing to take risks, it should be celebrated by the company, not hidden. Its that willingness to take risks which brings the greatest impact on the agency’s environment and the final products for clients.

Some find it incredibly difficult to take risks. Taking risk brings the possibility of failure. However, successful agencies will look past this fear and create an environment where risky thinking can abound. Sometimes, taking a risk will fail. Failure itself, when viewed from the proper perspective, brings experience that makes you wise. When that experience brings forth wisdom, you take a large leap in your journey to success.

Risks that give life to an idea that have potential for success in the future, but no real solution for today’s problem is a risk that agencies must be willing to take. Agencies must staff childlike minds in order to truly understand risk taking of the creative mind. Children, in their most creative state, are not bound by a fear of failure. They imagine without boundaries. They see the end, and know how to create a path to get their. Truly invaluable people within an agency have this type of mindset. To the creative mind, a risk isn’t much of a risk at all; simply a means to an end.

However, as an agency, you must also recognize when a proposed risk is not beneficial, but rather detrimental, to the agency. There are two main categories of risks that agencies should consider unacceptable.

The first is risk that excludes an insight that executes a plan to achieve the business objective laid out by the client. Work must be grounded in strategic business thinking. If the risk does not respect the client’s vision for the end product, then the risk should not be taken.

The other unacceptable risk is any risk that jeopardizes trust between the internal team members that are working on the project. The creative canvas is very large, but it is not infinite. Boundaries must be set within the agency team on a particular project. Everyone must stay on the same canvas while painting the client’s vision. While each team member may use a different color or design, the canvas must stay consistent. Any risk that changes the canvas transforms the risk into something unacceptable.