How to be more courageous at work

We demand people to perform, to communicate clearly, to trust each other in order to collaborate, to lead authentically, to align to a vision, to be innovative, to adapt and even create change, to take risks and make tough decisions.  For most people, most of the time, to do and be all these things requires courage.  Aristotle had it right, courage is the first human virtue.  Without it, you cannot have integrity, or be creative, accountable or resilient, nor trust each other, nor inspire others as a leader.

Courage is the ultimate business issue.  Not the Hollywood fly-boy or run-in-the-burning-building type of bravado.   In the everyday business world, we are incouraging participants in our programs to stretch their comfort zone which can mean:

• raising the candour to express your ideas and respectfully hear the ideas of others;
• trusting others to do their part for the team;
• attaining what seems to be impossible goals;
• sharing information effectively across functions;
• following established processes to maintain the integrity of systems;
• confronting others without unwarranted conflict;
• respecting the opinion of others especially when you do not agree
• leading the team in a new direction;
• accepting ambiguity and uncertainty
• admitting that you do not have all the answers
• learning new skills;
• giving feedback with honourable intentions
• telling the truth without “spin”
• embracing the challenges rather than avoiding them
• acknowledging the hard work of others;
• praising the genius of others;
• creating new services and products and ways to serve your client
• asking for help when we are stuck or for forgiveness when we mess up
• making decisions with ambiguous information
• persisting on a plan – taking the long view
• listening to your intuition when logic says otherwise
• boldly changing the way business is done
• being yourself      

Courage is the ultimate business issue.  Courage is not an intellectual pursuit or a spectator sport.  Courage is an individual act that comes from the heart (couer).  It is a choice that begins, at times, as a very lonely act but ends up being the very thing that inspires others to follow.

So stand up and speak; sit down and listen; challenge the status quo; take some chances; endure the rough times; discover new possibilities; be accountable; be vulnerable; be the best you and your organization can be.