Exercise One: Basic Steps

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                           EXERCISE 1
                           Basic Steps

     Risks are like crisis: they present both danger and
opportunity. Successful risk-taking is a valuable and rewarding
experience, and a person who has learned to do it grows confident
in taking other risks.  This exercise is useful to help you plan
for taking risks.

     Imagine a risk that is confronting you as a leader.  Visualize
the situation very clearly, and then answer the following questions
on a piece of paper:

1)  What is the problem and what are my goals?

    It's important to know what your desired outcome will be; to
     the degree that your mind is focused on a successful outcome,
     you are more likely to have that outcome.

2)  What information do you need?

    Ask many questions.  Make sure you find out as much about the
     situation as possible, and get hard data where appropriate.  
     This will help reduce the "unknowns" and your anxiety about
     those unknowns.

3)  What are the possible losses?

    Face the fact that you may not have a successful outcome, and 
     consider the ways that things might go wrong.  What do you
     stand to lose?  Are you risking your work, love, autonomy,
     health?  After considering what might go wrong, ask yourself
     once more if you need more information.

4)  How can you take this risk in the best way for you?

    What talents do you have to offer the situation that will help
    make this risk a special achievement?  What's the best timing?
    What's the best support?  Make sure you pay attention to your
    your as a way to answer this question.

     Discuss your risk with another person, and ask for feedback
about your approach.  Discuss the exercise in the group, relating
it to other risks you may be confronting as leaders.  Ask yourself
and others what are the most useful aspects of these basic steps.

> Further notes on the exercise: 

     The entire exercise may be done silently, or you may go
through the it step by step and discuss each question before the
participants write their responses.

     The discussion should focus on examples of risks that
participants are facing as leaders.  This will give the discussion
more focus than if it is a free-ranging discussion about all the
possible risky situations in their lives.  However, point out as
the discussion winds down that this process can be used for any
type of risk.
     This process is a distillation of the work of David Viscott,
M.D., in the book RISKING. You may want to incorporate some of the
other ideas in the book into a presentation which includes the
exercise.

> Time:  10 to 15 minutes for basic steps; 5 to 10 minutes for
discussion.

• Lois M. Frey, UVM Extension, RR #4, Box 2298, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 223-2389, email: lfrey@sover.net
• "Group Development: Creating Group Effectiveness" by Duane Dale, DFD Associates, 99 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-3402 (moving to 764 South East Street, Amherst, MA 01022 after 8/1/98);
• Bob Biagi, 142 Cherry Lane, Amherst, MA 01002 (413) 549-1412;

Comments to: crs@uvm.edu
Reviewed as of 4/20/98