Great Leaders typically demonstrate enormous courage.
When we celebrate July 4th in the USA, for example, we also honored the people who made the Declaration of Independence a reality. These men used their courage to make certain change would happen. They didn’t just think about committing, they committed — all 56 of the signers. And so, we ask this question . . .
What is the link between courage and leadership and how can it be applied in today’s workplace?
The most common challenges at work are these two:
Challenge #1 – Creating a more motivational and productive culture to improve productivity
Challenge #2 – Helping to use change advantageously to expand or improve one’s organization.
Today, staying the same or adapting slightly is not enough. Keeping any organization strong and competitive requires a whole new commitment and the ability to meet both challenges requires skill, patience, and daring — and yes, courage! Let’s take a closer look at each challenge.
Challenge #1
The need to create a more motivational and productive culture is easy to understand. Research into what motivates people and what makes people work harder and smarter has long been common knowledge to talent and human resource development experts — at least since the 1960s. The data explaining what works and does not is prolific. Sadly, the advice is often not taken by organizations and their leaders who in many cases act as if they had no idea what causes people to have real commitment.
You well might pause and ask: If people know how to get people committed and engaged, why aren’t they doing it? Here’s our take. It all comes down to a lack of courage for new managers and for leaders at all levels. Unless one is brave — yes, courageous — doing the right thing at work can be very tough.
Challenge #2
The second issue takes even more courage! While knowing exactly what to do to improve staff productivity as well as create a more humane workplace is typically self evident, the need to help people navigate change is often less obvious.
While there are ideas and suggestions about how to deal with change, embrace it, and otherwise ride the newer waves of innovation, the genius and/or wisdom to know exactly what to do in any given work situation can be cloudy at best. The way to navigate and deal with change is by its very nature risky and so risk and experimentation have to rule if an organization is to move forward successfully. And while, for many, the courage to act this way is often unattainable — every leader must commit to try.
Perhaps we value courage for the very reason it is rare. When we see people taking big bets and winning we all seem to feel a bit cheated that it wasn’t us. Hey, we could have done that! But in reality, even if we imagined something great, or something completely new or creative, few of us have the courage to pursue the dream head (and heart) first.
How can you increase your courage?
How can you increase your ability to create a better culture at work, or encourage and support more experimentation and risk at work?
Practicing anything builds our capacity to do it more frequently and better. Find every opportunity to be brave, buck the foolish but common nasty business style, or try an experiment. Like getting to Carnegie Hall, courage to lead is essential and requires practice, practice, and more practice. We suggest you get started.
More for QwikCoach Users
Try these workout tips to develop your courage muscles:
- Ask someone you dislike to lunch. And listen more than talk.
- Tell your closest friend something you haven’t ever told them before that you are certain would be useful and helpful to their life right now. When you tell them, explain why you thought it was so important for them to know.
- Make a dinner you have never made before and invite 6 or 7 people to come over and enjoy it with you.
- Write down next to each person you work with directly (no more than 5) exactly what you want to tell them if you had the courage. Think about the list and try it — one person at a time.
- Ask your boss for feedback on how you listen and participate in meetings. Listen and thank her/him. Do not defend yourself. Then, try out suggestions — or work on flaws — and follow up with your boss to let him/her know how you did.
Video
- Much as buzzfeed can be a mountain of nonsense, this is a quick video on courage that might actually encourage you to try to get more practice with the virtue of courage.
Additional Reading
- A how-to on business courage can help you start practicing courage at work.