You're leading an engineering team. How can you cultivate a culture of calculated risk-taking and innovation?

As an engineering leader, cultivating a culture of calculated risk-taking and innovation involves creating a space for experimentation, where failures are embraced as a learning opportunities. While working in the occupant safety domain, I encouraged my team to explore unconventional solutions like prediction of crash pulse without testing and integrating methodologies for predictive crash safety mechanisms. We ran pilot projects with a clear framework for risks, ensuring that any failure offered insights into system vulnerabilities. This approach fostered creativity and collaboration leading to breakthrough innovations. Embracing calculated risks within a structured environment transforms challenges into opportunities for growth.

We need to Keep Our Team Updated on Technology firstly (All Capabilities Application Development, New hardware Technology and Awareness about Concepts, Safety and Production Requirement). Also Keep Motiving team always which will help keep Team Healthy Attitude. These will help team think Proactive Calculated Risk for Innovation.

It can be helpful to reframe failure as feedback rather than a setback. In my experience, when teams view failure as a natural part of experimentation, they feel more empowered to innovate. I agree that creating a space where failure is not penalised but explored for insights is essential. An example I’ve seen is during hackathons, where teams are encouraged to experiment without worrying about perfect execution. This not only fosters creativity but also leads to unexpected breakthroughs.

You require that the work / team / organisation culture which fosters this type of conversation. “Do you think this will work?” “Next time on nights I’ll try it and we’ll find out”

I think the best way to accomplish this is; 1. Establish a culture that is uncomfortable with comfort. 2. Establish a culture that is comfortable and rewards rapid change. Start by promoting small rapid changes and rewarding success, and providing encouragement even for those who took the initiative. 3. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. A strategic approach this will not work. The best way to change culture is by leading, initiating, supporting multiple small tactical changes that involve risk, But a commensurate level of reward.

In setting clear goals it is critically important that you are setting the right goals. Are they aligned to the company direction are they aligned to the priority areas? If they are goals related to an engineering problem have we identified the right problem to solve? Have we got to root cause to set the right goals for the right problem? Are the goals managing the right risks to the right level? Do they keep your staff interested, motivated and allow them to be able to connect their efforts to the bigger goals and strategy?

As has been said elsewhere, when setting the goals they should be both clear and the right ones, that is aligned to the business objectives. Once agreed and your team is working to these goals, how are you following their progress? We typically use objective measures to monitor progress and ensure team members can achieve! Often obstacles arise and an open forum to highlight these and collaborate on solutions is vital. Give your team the space to review their progress together and the confidence to put forward their challenges and ideas.

Create a safe space for your team to experiment by embracing mistakes as learning opportunities. Encourage open communication, give them the freedom to test new ideas, and provide constructive feedback. This will boost confidence and inspire innovation aligned with your goals.

Defina objetivos específicos e desafiadores que incentivem a inovação. Em um projeto, trabalhei com a equipe para criar metas de inovação que eram ambiciosas, mas alcançáveis. Isso deu à equipe uma direção clara e motivou-os a buscar soluções criativas para alcançar esses objetivos.

SMART debería ser transformado a SMARTC (adicionaría OBJETIVOS CREIBLES). El equipo debe creer en su capacidad de llegar al resultado. Así sea específico, medible, relevante y concreto, el alcanzable no necesariamente es tomado como tal, el equipo puede burlar ese concepto si no llega a ver una salida al problema que están afrontando. La confianza del equipo se puede mellar si hay desgaste en resolver problemas, un punto importante es crear un ENTORNO DE CONFIANZA. Para esto, el líder del equipo debe transmitir esa confianza a su equipo y debe ser capaz de resolver las problemáticas que se dan en el camino.

Encourage collaboration between different teams to bring ideas from diverse perspectives. It's also worth establishing regular knowledge-sharing sessions where teams can present new technologies or approaches they’ve explored.

• Encourage Cross-Disciplinary Teams: Bring together people from different backgrounds and expertise to collaborate. This diversity of thought can spark innovative ideas that wouldn’t arise in a more homogenous group. • Create Innovation Forums: Establish regular meetings, hackathons, or brainstorming sessions where team members can propose and discuss new ideas.

Crie um ambiente onde a troca de ideias e a colaboração sejam incentivadas. Em uma equipe, estabelecemos sessões regulares de brainstorming e revisões de projetos colaborativas, o que permitiu que ideias diferentes fossem discutidas e aprimoradas coletivamente. Isso não só gerou soluções inovadoras, mas também fortaleceu o espírito de equipe.

La colaboración te brinda más que un aporte al equipo. Te hace ver como DESPRENDIDO, capaz de no guardarte hacia los demas de un feedback positivo, un elogio, un deseo de mejora. Esa posición te da una ventaja, ELIMINAR LA COMPETENCIA INNECESARIA dentro del equipo. Es un alivio ver que equipos que competían entre ellos mismos para saber quien es mejor, dejaron de hacerlo cuando vieron la actitud desprendida de uno de sus miembros y los demás empezaron a copiarlo. Un buen líder podrá observar esa situación y tomar ventaja del momento, haciendo ver como un buen ejemplo y motivando a los demás a hacerlo. Ese equipo ya ganó varios puntos en ese momento.

No progressing is not possible without risk. But the risk must be in reliable condition. Therefore, it is important to encourage the team members to understand this issue. There is no 100% efficiency, therefore, considering the lack of 100% efficiency, engineers must dare to contribute with new ideas and inventions within the defined limits. So that the system does not fall apart and change towards development is possible.

1st it starts by being open to the ideas, then understanding how we will support this with resources and following through the process to ensure the team feels supported. Also, making sure we celebrate small wins along the way. Give your team the problem and the freedom to resolve it, they will come back to you with an innovative way to resolve it, then support them and follow through.

Fornecer recursos adequados é essencial para sustentar uma cultura de risco calculado e inovação. Sem os recursos certos, mesmo as melhores intenções podem falhar. Alguns exemplos são: - Alocar um orçamento específico para projetos de inovação, que permita à equipe experimentar novas ideias sem comprometer as operações principais. - Fornecer as ferramentas de software, hardware e tecnologia necessárias para que a equipe possa trabalhar de forma eficaz e inovadora. - Ajude a equipe a gerenciar melhor seu tempo, reduzindo cargas de trabalho e permitindo que eles se concentrem em projetos de alto impacto. - Ofereça oportunidades para que a equipe aprenda novas habilidades ou aprimore as existentes, através de cursos, workshops ou conferências.

To leverage analytics to improve engineering related problems you need to educate the engineers about how real life processes may not always obey 1st principles equations. x + y = x sometimes due to variability and unexpected behaviors means that x + y should = x; however, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s this variability that can cause problems that 1st principles are not designed to handle and as such it’s important to use both 1st principles and analytics together to help derive be new insights to improve processes as much as possible.

Allocate a specific budget for innovative projects and experiments, separate from regular operational expenses. Ensure the team has access to cutting-edge tools, technologies, and training resources needed to explore new ideas. Create a process for quickly approving and acquiring resources for promising

Even the great pyramid build by technology, of course there was so helpful to reduce time consumption ,fast equations solution, and provide u risk assessment during the innovation intervention. Who could fly without technology investment.?

In my career, I have always talent he time to celebrate and recognize the milestones from my team, even when they seem small, even when the team just feels or think they are just doing their job. Celebration is an opportunity to recognize the efforts made by the team to reach any milestone and allows people to look back and feel engage and part of something.

This is the "opposite side of the coin" to embracing failure. Often you can't get to the success without going through some failures. Celebrating the success in my opinion is the best time to embrace the failures as a necessary step. It encourages risk-taking and innovation on the *next* project.

Comemorar o sucesso é uma parte vital para manter a moral alta, reforçar comportamentos positivos e incentivar a inovação contínua em sua equipe. Alguns exemplos são: - Celebre os sucessos durante reuniões regulares da equipe, destacando conquistas individuais e coletivas. Reconhecer o esforço de cada um em público cria um senso de realização e orgulho. - Crie prêmios para ideias inovadoras que tiveram um impacto significativo. Esses prêmios podem ser troféus, certificados ou até mesmo bonificações. - Organize eventos sociais, como almoços ou festas, para comemorar o sucesso da equipe. Isso fortalece os laços entre os membros e proporciona uma pausa merecida.

‘Compensation to the idea” exchange mind thought to the real useful innovation deserves celebration for hardworking team so the excitements can continuously gain upfront in breaking more obstacles. Just do it, it will be good ROI.

Taking calculated risks requires knowledge, specially cross-functional and multidisciplinary knowledge, so that the likely impact of our decisions can be anticipated and provided for. When I was the Engineering Head, I used to convene Monday Morning meetings of the heads of engineering disciplines to promote learning and sharing. This percolated down into various teams and a “learning culture” was developed and nurtured to appreciate and confront risks in a positive and healthy way instead of being fearful.

Reflection is something I practice even when things are going well. We should always have time to reflect and think about different and better ways to behave as a leader, better ways to show up, better ways to plan an activity, etc. There is always an opportunity to think and reflect on how we can do things better even when they go well.

Implement a recognition program that rewards innovative thinking and calculated risk-taking, not just successful outcomes. Share success stories widely within the organization to inspire others and demonstrate the value of innovation. Organize regular showcases where teams can present their innovative projects to the wider company, fostering a sense of pride and accomplishment.

We use an agile development process that involves regular retrospectives at the end of every 2-week sprint and 3-month Program Increment on a larger scale. You benefit from these activities according to the effort you put in. With our hectic schedule it can be tempting to quickly go through the motions, but if you really take a deeper and honest look at what you can do better on a regular basis, making small improvements time and time again can be powerful. The key is taking action on the retrospective items that are captured. Knowing what you need to do isn't enough...you need to make a real plan and execute it. Iteratively.

Refletir regularmente é essencial para o crescimento contínuo e a melhoria constante em uma equipe de engenharia. A reflexão permite que a equipe aprenda com as experiências passadas, identifique áreas de melhoria e celebre as vitórias. Alguns exemplos são: - Realize reuniões de retrospectiva após cada projeto ou sprint, onde a equipe possa discutir o que funcionou bem, o que não funcionou e o que pode ser melhorado. - Realize reuniões de retrospectiva após cada projeto ou sprint, onde a equipe possa discutir o que funcionou bem, o que não funcionou e o que pode ser melhorado. - Incentive um ambiente onde o feedback seja dado e recebido de forma contínua, não apenas de cima para baixo, mas também entre pares.