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Let me begin with a little parable.
Once upon a time there was a leader who led from fear. From industry change to global competition and disruptive technologies - he fretted constantly about everything that threatened the company his success was staked on. Over time his fear filtered down to his management team and through the ranks of his organisation until everyone felt on edge. Overtime, disengagement settled in as fear had before it. When he tried to hire new staff he discovered that word had spread: this was not a company for big thinkers. The organisation lived on the fumes of past success until it was eventually gutted by an investment firm and sold to the highest bidder.
Once upon a time … ahhh … if only. While this story is fictitious, millions of employees today might say it's not such a far cry from their workplace reality. Indeed, time and time again I’ve found that the biggest threat to organizations isn’t disruptive technology or economic uncertainty; it’s the fear that resides within its walls . Left unchecked, fear can spread like a virus, driving otherwise creative, committed and passionate people to pull in their heads and play it safe. Instead of fueling innovation and forging new ground, they work hard to protect what ground they already have. The cost of fear to bottom line is steep; the cost to the human spirit is immeasurable.
Research shows that the most competitive organizations are one's where employees believe that what they do matters, that they're valued for what they do, and that they’ll be rewarded for trying to do it better (even if their initiative doesn't always produce optimal results). But here’s the deal: most employees won't go the extra mile, take a risk or lay their reputation on the line that if they believe it will put their future at risk.
Needless to say, one of the greatest responsibilities of any leader is to create an environment where people can thrive; continually growing and developing both professionally and personally. This requires cultivating a "culture of courage." Here are eight ways to do just that.
Set the emotional tone
Organizational psychologists have found that each workplace develops its own group emotion, or "group effective tone," which over time creates shared "emotional norms" that are proliferated and reinforced by behavior, both verbal and non verbal. It's therefore important to harness the contagious nature of emotions to your advantage – to foster self-confidence, bolster resilience, encourage creativity and build bravery.
Leaders are, in essence, an emotional barometer in so far as they help set the emotional temperature as those around them look to them for cues on how to think, engage and behave. Accordingly, leaders have the responsibility to ensure that whatever emotions they’re spreading around their team or organisation, they’re setting others up to be more brave, less anxious; more confident, less timid; more focused, less overwhelmed; and more adaptable, less rigid. Here are five ways they can do just that.
Acknowledge anxiety (spoken and unspoken!)
Good leaders don’t pretend that everything is perfect or that there’s nothing to fear. However they help people put their fears into perspective, and focus their attention on what is in their control, not on what isn’t. By tuning in and acknowledging the fears and anxieties of those around them, leaders can (and must) help people navigate their way through change with less angst and more optimism.
Focus on what could go right
Too often managers fixate on what will happen if people fail; on what could go wrong ahead of what might go right. How often have you heard someone warn, "If you screw up, you’re a goner" or said to yourself, "I’ll die if I mess this up"? The problem is that the more attention we put on what may go wrong, the less we have left for what could go right. As Bill Treasurer wrote in Courage Goes to Work, "By focusing solely on the consequences of failure, such managers are, in effect, widening the holes in the safety nets."
Encourage smart risk
We human beings are innately risk averse; psychologically hardwired to:
- overestimate the probably of failure
- underestimate ourselves (particularly women!)
- focus more on what we might lose than what we might gain, and
- discount the cost of inaction and playing it safe.
Therefore leaders need to continually work to help people "rethink risk" and make them feel safe to push the envelope of what’s possible, think outside the box and to challenge old thinking. Smart risks lead to smart mistakes, and smart mistakes are a vital part of the learning process. But unless people feel they’re able to make the odd bad decision, they won’t be willing to risk making good ones.
Reassuring people that their risks won’t be punished—assuming they’re doing their homework and not being reckless —helps to offset their fear and grow their willingness to try new things in more innovative ways.
Encourage employees to get comfortable with discomfort
Bomb disposal experts, when given both the right training to disarm highly explosive bombs and sufficient practice at doing it, are able to handle situations that would frighten the socks off most people with extraordinary calm. This is because the more often people are exposed to situations that are out of their comfort zone, the more comfortable they become with those situations. The psychological term for this is called the "Mere Exposure Effect." It explains that the more someone is "merely exposed" to a situation that’s making them uncomfortable, the more they become desensitized to it, until they reach the point where they’re comfortable with it.
Helping people build competence through developing new skills and gradually increasing their exposure to new situations reduces their fear of failure. In doing so, you create a scaffolding that builds their confidence to take bolder actions in the future.
Asking someone to do something they aren't prepared for or is simply too far outside their comfort zone—such as leading a presentation in front of a large group of people when they've never presented anything to your team before—can produce the exact opposite outcome you want. But asking them to assist in preparing and co-presenting to a smaller group a few times before they take on the lead role (thereby building their competence and confidence) will set them up for success when they take the lead. Courage builds courage.
Reward the behavior, not just the results.
It’s important to acknowledge people when they act courageously, even when their actions don’t produce the outcome they want. When you reward courageous behaviours—not just successful ones—you’re also demonstrating to everyone the values you want them to adopt and teaching them the value you place on those who refuse to stick with status quo thinking and play safe. After all, while courage doesn’t guarantee success, it always precedes it.
The reward doesn’t have to be a trophy or a bonus; it could simply be a handwritten note from a manager, a few encouraging words or acknowledgment in front of peers at a team meeting. The type of reward doesn’t matter so long as it’s meaningful to the person receiving it and is linked to the emboldened behaviour you want to encourage.
Reframe the risks
In an emotionally safe environment, mistakes are not career-enders and failure is regarded as a valuable teacher offering lessons on how to do better moving. In his book Peak Performers, Charles Garfield says that peak performers are able to ask themselves two questions:
- What’s the worst that could happen?
- What would I do if the worst did happen?
Helping people reflect on the cost of inaction can help significantly lowers the perceived risk and helps to harness the energy of fear in a positive, possibility-oriented, direction.
Lead by example. Risk your own safety.
The extent to which those around you will be willing to act courageously is determined by how much you are.
How you engage in doing your job, the way you handle a difficult person or challenging situation, or your willingness to risk a mistake will have a far more potent impact on others, and on your career, than any other single factor. Never underestimate the power of your everyday example: it speaks far more loudly than your words ever can.
Leaders who act with courage grow influence where others grow anxiety. Your organizations' number one resource and competitive advantage is the people that work for it. The success you want is therefore riding on your ability to harness the full quota of passion, innovation, creativity and courage of everyone around you.
So, what can you do to inspire bravery in others? Start acting with more of it yourself. What's a risk worth taking right now so that even if it didn't go to plan, you'd be glad you took it? People will always be more influenced by the power of your example than by the example of your power.
Check out my Train The Brave Challenge for 10 daily videos to encourage you to recharge your commitment to living more bravely.
