Culture Of Courage: Creating A Culture That Breeds Bravery
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By Margie Warrell:
Winston Churchill once said that courage is the first of all virtues because it is the only one that guarantees all others. Courage is also what it takes to set a bold course for yourself and your organization, engage in a courageous conversation, forge new ground, and to be decisive in uncertainty.
Certainly in today’s accelerated and uncertain times, courage is an indispensable attribute for effective leadership. Without it, leaders cannot steer organizations effectively or grow their capacity to adapt quickly to change and seize the opportunities change always holds. There are countless books about taking smart risks, innovating and seizing competitive advantage in fast changing markets. However there are very few that get to the heart of what holds the vast majority back from laying their job, their reputation and their ego on the line in ways that improve bottom line performance.
Fear drives people to shore up what they have rather than to go after what they want. During times of rapid change and uncertainty, anxiety levels go up and our appetite for risk goes down. Yet these are the exact times when bold action can reap the greatest rewards, and avoiding risk can exact the steepest toll (albeit not in the short term). Which begs the question: How do leaders foster the type of bold thinking and brave behavior needed to build competitive advantage and grow collective prosperity? They do so by cultivating a “Culture of Courage” that makes people feel safe to take risks and provides a compelling reason to do so. Here are five ways to do just that.
1. Lead from possibility, not probability.
It is easy to focus on what is directly ahead; to live from a place of probability. But it takes courage to shift your sights beyond the immediate horizon and to dream about what could be possible 5, 10 or 25 years from now. But unless you can move beyond probabilities, you will be hard pushed to inspire yourself, much less anyone else.
Any area of your life in which you lack a compelling vision of what you want is an area where you are navigating without a compass. Sometimes the right path to take is straight up the mountainside, but how would you know if you aren’t sure where you want to go? When you’re focused only on what’s directly ahead, it’s easy to fall into the path of least resistance, caving to external pressures and personal insecurities.
You lead by virtue of who you are; of what you stand for. When Martin Luther King Jr. spoke the words “I have a dream,” he inspired millions to make a stand for something far bigger than them. It wasn’t just his words that began a momentous movement; it was his willingness to lay his life on the line for it. Likewise, before people decide what they think about what you say, they decide what they think of you. So leadership begins with deciding what you stand for and having the guts to lay your reputation on the line for it if needed. If you aren’t willing to do that yourself, then you’ll have a hard time convincing anyone else to do it.
Growth and comfort don’t ride the same horse. People need to see you are riding the brave one before they’ll follow suit. All leadership begins with self-leadership. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.
2. Enlarge the context. Explain the ‘Why.’
Human beings have an innate need for purpose. We want to feel that how we use our time and talents each day is important. It’s not that we need to think we are ending world hunger or curing cancer, but we do want to feel that our toil is more than just about earning a paycheck; we want to be inspired. A leader who can’t inspire is like a river without water. Dry and depressing.
Enlarging the context is particularly important during times of change. Employees working on the shop floor often aren’t aware of the larger considerations and stakeholder concerns. The more information they have about why they are being asked to do what they do, and why they’re enduring the discomfort of change, the more engaged they will become and the less anxiety they will breed.
Leaders must be able to give a clear and compelling answer to the question: “For the sake of what am I doing this?” Few things are more demotivating than a boss who can’t explain why what you’re doing truly matters. Leaders who can help employees see how their efforts are contributing to a larger purpose will motivate those in their charge to speak bravely, focus purposefully and work diligently when it matters most.
3. Learn to unlearn.
Self-confidence is as important an attribute for leadership as competence. However one of the biggest challenges organizations face are too many leaders who have too much confidence in their own opinion, and too little interest in learning about the opinions of those who see things differently. Cleverness is far less valuable than curiosity.
Researchers have found that we are wired to defend what we know, to resist information that contradicts it and to seek out like-minds and evidence that complies with our beliefs. So cultivating a ‘courage culture’ requires leaders to park their ego and be proactive in seeking information and beliefs that differ from their own. It also requires the humility to concede when they’ve realize they had it wrong.
Learning how to ‘unlearn’ the knowledge and answers that have fueled past successes is crucial to our ability to adapt fast and flexibly. Too much self-satisfaction can keep decision makers from admitting what they don’t know, asking new questions to discover what they need to know, and experimenting with new approaches to old problems. Leaders must both continually challenge their own wisdom and actively encourage employees to do the same.
4. Make it safe.
People play it safe and lean toward caution when they don’t feel safe to do otherwise. It’s why employers who know that their boss has ‘got their back’ will be far more willing to go the extra mile, to push back, and to speak up and to exchange what’s been working for what might work better.
Making people feel safe is built on a foundation of trust. People need to intuitively feel that they can trust you to:
Speak truthfully
Do what’s right over what’s easy (even if it costs you)
Take care of them as human beings and not to use them as pawns in some larger political power-play
Keep your word and hold others to theirs
Back them up if they go out on a limb for the sake of your business
If people don’t think you care, don’t believe you’re sincere, or just don’t feel they could count on you to do the right thing in a bind, then you will not be able to get them to stick their neck out. Why would they?
5. Embolden bravery.
Courage is a habit, and like all habits it can be learned. The ‘mere exposure’ effect means that the more often someone is exposed to a situation that makes him or her uncomfortable, the less scary it will become. As Nicole Geller, CEO of GCS shared with me when I interviewed her for Stop Playing Safe:
“Just because I see something in a person doesn’t mean they see it in themselves. Sometimes as a leader we have to push people a little to get them out of their comfort zone because we know that they have what it takes to do more but they just don’t know it themselves. Most of the time they are far more successful than they think they will be. But whether they are or they aren’t, it’s important to help them to see and celebrate what they’ve accomplished.”
Encouraging people to exit their comfort zone grows their confidence to step further outside it more often. So too will rewarding courageous behavior, particularly when it doesn’t reap the desired outcome. Doing so makes a strong implicit declaration that you see smart risks as vital to long-term success, even when they don’t pay off in the short-run.
Imagine the innovation and creativity that could be unleashed in your team or organization if everyone in it had the courage to speak candidly, try new approaches, and lay their reputation on the line for the bigger mission of your organization.
Creating a culture of courage starts with you. It starts with your commitment to dare bravely, speak bravely and to lead bravely. Start it now. If there is one thing that is certain about the future it is this: sticking with the status quo will grow increasingly expensive.
Margie Warrell is a leadership coach & keynote speaker who leads courage-building programs globally. She is also the best-selling author of Stop Playing Safe and Find Your Courage. Connect on Facebook and Twitter
Article: From Forbes.com
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