Leadership Skills: Courage
Brene Brown has offered significant research in areas of courage. Her insight into vulnerability shows us this is a strong position to create impactful decisions in the face of difficulties. It is important to live the values of the organization as operational behaviors, with ‘brave trust,’ being clear in communication of the progress and deficits of their teams. This is a skill that we are not born with, taking time and practice to develop. There are 6 aspects of courage defined by her research:
· The ability to have hard conversations, that challenge you emotionally, even when you do not want to have the talk.
· Willingness to understand what is driving and to embrace fears and feelings of their own and their employees acknowledging the impact of the emotions.
· Emulate how to re-set, getting to the root of the cause, problem solving and moving forward, thus bouncing back from difficulties.
· Refrain from blame or shame as this humiliates people causing them to disengage.
People ask me what is my why, and I tell them I have listened to many employee’s stories, and have my own regarding work culture that is toxic in nature. This includes supervisors who gas light, humiliate and show bias often in ways that go unchecked in the organization. While it takes courage to speak for a co-worker who is enduring this behavior, it takes equal courage to help them to make an exit strategy holding onto your dignity as a valuable human being.
In an organization, we can build power in our relationship regardless of position, where we have influence over situations with positive communication. Even those in top management give power to anyone on whom they are dependent—whether for respect, advice, friendship, appreciation, or network affiliations. This relational quality will give us a broad base to make bold moves.
When we are moved to action in the face of fear and change, we gain respect from those around us, as they are inspired to do the same. We talk about how to be effective in change management. How about being the creator of change? Shifts in society can occur with our courage. When we look at how leaders in history impacted the world, a sense of hope surrounds us that we can do the same. We are no different than Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, or Marie Curie who made amazing contributions to humanity with courageous acts in their unique ways.
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Courage is an interesting leadership skill I hadn't thought of - but it makes sense. As you say difficult to teach, you have to practice.