I’m constantly awe-struck at the number of courageous leaders there are out there – and how many there aren’t. Leaders like Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, who set a really clear boundary of what was enough for her and stepped down from her role.
Bravery and courage are not easy virtues to develop and demonstrate consistently when everything around us is shifting so rapidly, and we’re dealing with increasing levels of uncertainty.
But this is exactly when we need them.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I learned so much about the importance of bravery and courage, in my training as a Be Braver practitioner. This has given me a suite of tools, useful when things are shifting so much and so quickly. Here are the ones that I come back to most often…
Being vulnerable is not a weakness
Vulnerability has a bad rap. It’s often portrayed as something we should avoid and is seen as a weakness, particularly in leaders. I’ve seen this show up in change projects where leaders don’t feel comfortable not having all the answers when they’re going to talk to people about change. They don’t ask questions, aren’t prepared to say that they don’t know something and in the worst cases, they don’t communicate anything.
Recognising that vulnerability is OK, knowing that no-one is ever going to have all the answers, and encouraging more questions and more conversation, is courageous for a leader. It shows everyone that this approach is part of the organisation’s culture and helps others do the same. It’s OK not to know everything.
A brave leader is someone who says I see you. I hear you. I don’t have all the answers, but I’m going to keep listening and asking questions.”
Brené Brown
The infinite power of connection
Connection is something I always see included whenever research into wellbeing and resilience is shared so unsurprisingly, it’s also one of the four pillars of the Be Braver framework. Leaders who promote collaboration in their teams as well as developing connections themselves, are likely to see courage and bravery boosted across the board, with people more likely to take calculated risks and keep moving forward even when things are uncertain.
Going out of your comfort zone with others – and celebrating the wins
Working with others in shifting out of my comfort zone and recognising that I wasn’t alone was one of my biggest – and best - learnings from being part of the Be Braver Practitioner programme. Recognising what had worked, understanding the steps we’d all taken and most importantly, celebrating that was so important. Doing this together made it so much easier – and really rewarding for all of us.
Fail forward – it’s a brilliant learning opportunity
Every day gives us a chance to try new things, fail and learn. I’ve worked with some brilliant and very brave leaders in my career who have been an inspiration. They’ve tried new things, have been open to ideas and innovation that may or may not work out and spoken up where others wouldn’t.
Emotions can be contagious and courage – and fear – are no different. Where leaders encourage people to see failure as part and parcel of everyday life and move their mindset that way, then they’ll keep taking risks and learning. Providing development opportunities that bolster this approach will be invaluable too.
Don’t scratch the surface – dig deep
When organisations are dealing with change or facing uncertainty head-on, alongside their business-as-usual work, problem-solving can sometimes get superficial as you feel you need to move on, quickly. Your teams’ sickness days are on the rise? We need to explore why that might be, but not now, we’re too busy. You’re seeing a rise in the number of people leaving – and including the good ones? Let’s offer them more money and see if that makes them stay.
In this situation, the braver move for a leader could be to make the time to dig deeper and unearth what’s really going on. This is so important if it’s a situation that’s cropped up before. It’s pretty likely it’ll keep recurring without that deep dive.
In our ever-shifting environment where things can switch in a moment, there’s a need for leaders to practice courage and make the bold and brave decisions that not everyone will agree with, more often.
And, helping to build cultures that support courage and bravery, will lead to greater individual growth and learning as well as more innovation. And who wouldn’t want that?
If you’re looking for solutions to address tricky issues in organisational change, I can help so please get in touch.
You can find out more about the brilliant Be Braver workshops and coaching programmes to help you develop courage and bravery in your leadership approach to change, here .