I try to create an environment where everyone feels heard. I encourage innovative ideas by testing them in small, controlled ways, while also respecting the need for caution. This helps us move forward without taking unnecessary risks.

- Embrace discomfort: Letting team members push boundaries or challenge ideas sparks growth and creativity. - Lead by listening: Sometimes the best way to balance dynamics is stepping back and truly hearing what others need. - Celebrate the messy middle: Teams thrive not just in success but through navigating challenges together.

Create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns. Regular meetings and open forums can help facilitate this. Ensure that both risk-averse and innovative members feel heard and valued. Acknowledge their perspectives and find common ground. Clearly define the project goals and the acceptable level of risk. This helps align everyone's efforts towards a common purpose. Outline the constraints within which the team can innovate. This provides a safety net for risk-averse members while giving innovative members the freedom to explore. Utilize the strengths of each team member. Celebrate both small and large successes to boost morale and encourage continued innovation.

By letting all team members make their cases for or against the design decisions that affect their particular areas of responsibility. Then allowing the Chief Systems Engineer/System Architect to render a finding on what is in the best interest of Program Success.

Balancing risk-averse and innovative team members in system design starts with fostering psychological safety and aligning on shared goals. Leverage their complementary strengths—risk-averse individuals ensure stability, while innovators drive creativity. Use iterative processes and data-driven decisions to build confidence and guide progress. Celebrate successes where their collaboration leads to better outcomes, reinforcing the value of diverse perspectives in achieving both stability and innovation.

Keep it simple. Any system can produce dynamics that may keep the task on focus. A novel concept can draw attention away from the core operation. As a manager, you have to keep focused on the end, while providing the ability to bring new dynamics into a project. Look at productivity levels, and ensure targets are met. If time doesn't allow for continuing the novel concept, document as much as you can, and put it on the back burner for implementation at a further time.

A good leader shall always listen to the team and appreciate great ideas to empower them by implementing. Classic example is work life balance - Creating a tool to input efforts and measure outlines to set priorities always helps to make team happy. Setting goals gives clear scope of work and monitoring in sprints would align success to complete projects early retarding the risks. Leveraging strengths would keep the activities rolling faster. But shall also train others to cover in absence and sharing work to balance timelines.

I think it is a matter of getting everyone to understand the risks and rewards. The innovators have trouble identifying the risks and the risk adverse have difficulty understanding the benefits of the risks. You cannot change the way they think nor should you try because both viewpoints are valuable. I found it helpful to periodically call a skull session with the team. The objective of the skull session is to get agreement on the severity of the risks and the benefit to the customer of the rewards.