Courage Starts at Home

In my most recent post, Where We All Lead, I talked about the practice of Transformational Leadership and how it can be highly effective when working with a team to deliver the highest quality goods and services. As I mentioned, practicing Transformational Leadership requires one to be courageous. I want to expand on that idea of courage and talk in greater depth about what it means to be courageous in the workplace and how to put that into practice.

So what does it mean to be courageous? Is it, standing up in a room full of fellow team members and simply saying what you think regardless of what others might think or feel? Not exactly. There will be times, yes, when you will have to deliver the unpopular news, but being courageous is much more than that. Possessing and, more importantly, implementing courageous practice is the willingness to be personally accountable for all that you do and all that you ask of others.

To practice courage, you must be:

• Open to taking personal inventory on a regular basis by looking at yourself and asking: What am I bringing to the table? How can I give more and do better?
• Actively seeking feedback especially from your toughest critics and more importantly, hearing it.
• Taking frequent stock in all aspects of your business, of what is working, and reflect on how it can be improved.
• Taking responsibility for the missteps and crediting others for the successes.
• Being willing to have the tough conversations—with yourself, with your team members, with your clients and with your stakeholders.
• Leading by example—don’t be afraid to have people look to you.

By doing these things, you will build a foundation of respect and honesty with and within your team, allowing for greater loyalty and productivity. And hopefully, it will make the tough calls a bit easier to make and the successes even sweeter to share.