Courageous Leaders Blog

I recently listened to emerging leaders share their stories of initiating change in their organization as part of a leadership development program we are facilitating. As they shared their stories so they chose to BE vulnerable - exposing their fears, insecurities, areas of weakness and concerns about being able to change.

Vulnerability is such a strength - to watch and feel the movement created in the room as people shared their stories was inspiring.

Someone shared how his heart was about to leap out of his chest he was so nervous. Another person shared the feedback they received about when they operated at their "worst" and how saddened they felt and how committed they felt to changing this.

What we experienced was a group of emerging leaders who dropped their egos. We had a room full of real people standing up and sharing with their colleagues and their bosses who had joined us at the back of the room. When you are real other people can't help but respond and empathize in a real way - in the moment. After all we all want to belong and we all want to do our best - this is human nature!

Courageous leaders allow themselves to BE vulnerable - let the learning and the people come into their lives. What a difference we can make as leaders if we adopt this philosophy and principal!!

In this fortnightly series, Alison Glynn-Baker discusses some key concepts in Mandy Holloway’s book, ‘Inspiring Courageous Leaders’.  She also poses some provocative questions.  We invite you to provide your opinion and join the discussion.

 

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by [those] who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare… Impossible is nothing.”  - Muhammad Ali

 

Nine = Infinity

Mandy talks about the sustainability conundrum.  How can a business achieve sustainability in terms of people, financials and the brand?  For example, it is tempting to cut investment in people when the world threatens to go into economic meltdown.  Some would say it is imperative.  But is it?

Impossible is nothing.  And possible is everything.  The nine components of the Courageous Leaders Model are positioned around the Infinity symbol.  This represents infinite personal and professional possibilities.   The potential to do business differently.  The potential to evolve as a leader on a journey of life-long learning.

 

   

Nine=Infinity. The Nine Elements of the Courageous Leaders Model

The rest of this blog series will explore Nine = Infinity in more detail.  Here is a quick introduction:

As an emerging leader, how do you build the courage and conviction to lead differently? The first of the nine components is leadership mastery:  embracing your best self and reaching mastery in relationships, the business and technically.

You build confidence in your leadership mastery by spending time in reflection.  One tool you can use is Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, which I will discuss later in the blog series.

Once you have confidence to make the right choices, how far will you go to put your leadership mastery into action?  Are you prepared to take full responsibility for the consequences? This is the concept of conviction.

As an emerging leader, once you have developed courage in your leadership mastery, you can overcome a fear of or indifference towards having necessary, challenging conversations with your existing leaders.

Both emerging leaders and existing leaders need the courage to connect and commit - to meet in the middle, on common ground.  As an emerging leader, you need to have the conviction to challenge the status quo.  Sometimes even challenging existing leaders.  And as an existing leader, you will need to unleash your courage to be challenged and to change.  What starts off as an intimidating wedge of fear for both parties becomes a ledge of learning, untapping that infinite potential we talked about earlier.

The next of the nine elements of the model is challenge and how we respond to it. It is critical to drop the defensive behaviours, manage our emotions and embrace conflict.

How we respond to change is critical for our life-long learning, and for the sustainability of a business.

The last of the nine elements of the Courageous Leaders model is a high-performance culture. In a high-performance culture, a united population of courageous leaders is engaged in constructive and supportive behaviours, and is running a business which is sustainable in the long-term.

Maybe by embracing all nine components in our journey towards becoming Courageous Leaders, we really can create infinite possibilities.  Is it impossible to make business about more than just the share price?  As a Courageous Leader, what else could be possible? This is your chance to have your say.

Don't have a copy of Inspiring Courageous Leaders? Buy it now


About Alison Glynn-Baker: Alison Glynn-Baker has 15 years’ experience in professional services marketing, business development and operations.  Through her own consultancy, she has combined her two passions - training and writing – to help clients improve performance both personally and in business.

 

 

In this fortnightly series, Alison Glynn-Baker discusses some key concepts in Mandy Holloway’s book, ‘Inspiring Courageous Leaders’.  She also poses some provocative questions.  We invite you to provide your opinion and join the discussion.

 

"No one can answer for his courage when he has never been in danger"  - Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Maxims

When I was completing school in South Africa, there was a story going around about a boy whose final English essay topic was ‘Courage’.  After two hours he handed in the exam booklet, in which he had written the essay title and three words: “This took courage.”  It is said he got a Distinction.

Was he lucky?  Reckless?  Or just very brave? What was going through his mind?  And just imagine if he’d been failed instead of given an A?

Sticking to a script is easy.  Facing down a blank sheet of paper and imprinting it with your own story is one of the most daunting things you will ever do.

Chapter 1 of Mandy Holloway’s book talks about what courage is for you. Courage is a very attractive word on paper.  Its root is the Latin word ‘cor,’ meaning heart.  Who wouldn’t act from the heart, you may ask?    You’ll see at the end of each chapter that Mandy asks some Rattling Your Cage questions, designed to challenge your habits.  And you might truly feel rattled as you ponder whether and how you are demonstrating courage as a leader.

Where do you currently fit in the organisation?  If you are part of the top team, which shares overall accountability for the organisation’s outcomes, and have senior leaders reporting to you, then you are known as an existing leader.  

If you are an emerging leader, you are managing people and working towards organisational outcomes.  Emerging leaders report to existing leaders.  

Mandy talks about a wedge of fear.  This wedge prevents emerging leaders and existing leaders from having really necessary conversations with each other. What does this wedge look like?  Discontent. Blame. Defensiveness.  And even apathy.

And that blank sheet of paper?  It’s a ledge of learning – a place where both parties start talking.  Without a script.  Over time people feel stable and supported in having those conversations.  They become part of a united population of courageous leaders, connected to each other and committed to the future of the business.  This creates a high-performance culture, and a wealth of personal and professional possibilities which you can only begin to imagine.  We will talk about an infinity of possibilities in the next blog when we explore the Courageous Leaders Model in more detail.

The Courageous Leaders Model helps you build your own personal framework and identify what courage means to you. You might even find it’s already one of your character strengths.

But it has to start with a single, as-yet-unwritten word.

As a leader, if you do something that takes courage, what does success look like?  And what about failure?  Can it really be said you have failed when you have been courageous?  This is your chance to have your say.

 

 

Don't have a copy of Inspiring Courageous Leaders? Buy it now

About Alison Glynn-Baker: Alison Glynn-Baker has 15 years’ experience in professional services marketing, business development and operations.  Through her own consultancy, she has combined her two passions - training and writing – to help clients improve performance both personally and in business.

 

What an insightful man Einstein was and I loved his sentiment when he shared with us that:

"Great spirits have always faced violent opposition from mediocre minds."

This captures the essence of what so often happens between the populations of emerging and existing leaders.

Wise words from Mandy: ignite that spirit, emerging leaders!

With such passion and belief that no amount of opposition can shout you down or bring you to a halt.

Is this easy to do? Absolutely not.

Does it take disciplined processes? Yes it does.

Middle managers – the emerging leaders of a business – are increasingly feeling overwhelmed, stressed, deluged with stuff that needs to get done and people wanting more and more of their time. One of the experiential activities integrated into our 12 month leadership program brings this out beautifully and as a result our debriefs have been fiery, defensive, enlightening and at time people have left feeling helpless.

We eventually bring realisation to what middle managers need to change if they want their “lot” to change. They need to:

·         Delegate in a way that brings accountability

·         Challenge the requests of their existing leaders

·         Clarify expectations of others and themselves

·         Stand up for what they believe in and what’s important to them

·         Step into their courage and stop avoiding conversations.

 
When delegating with the intent of bringing accountability make sure your team member feels the consequences of non performance. If you keep fixing things they’ll never learn to be accountable. It’s YOUR responsibility!

You reap what you tolerate – so if you don’t challenge the requests of your existing leaders – your silence represents conformity. Again, it’s YOUR responsibility to speak up!

Without clarity of expectations it is difficult for you and others to deliver at the right time to the right level of quality and to delight your customer – be they internal or external. Again, make this YOUR responsibility – engage in the conversation to clarify expectations with your boss, your team members, your customers.........because YOU are the person who stands to reap the greatest benefit – so take responsibility and engage in the conversations.

Standing up for what you believe in is invigorating, energising and inspiring. Take responsibility to do it more often and feel the benefits.

Stepping into your courage and having the conversations you know you need to have means you free up thinking time, free up emotional energy and remove feelings of stress. Again you need to take responsibility to engage in these conversations because you reap the benefits.

Once you swallow the bitter pill and realise it is all within your control, you can then start taking action to change your “lot”.

Giving feedback upwards to an existing leader is always incredibly challenging – not only in making sure you get your message across and that it is heard, but also the anxiety that accompanies the unknown of how the recipient will respond. For many emerging leaders, giving feedback upwards is a difficult, cumbersome and fearful experience.

When preparing to give feedback upwards, there is something to remember: it is that you REAP what you TOLERATE.

If you continue to put up with the experiences created, the behaviours (good or bad) exhibited and the demands that are being made then you are giving feedback already - that it is OK for you to be treated in this way.

Silence is tolerance and therefore acceptance.

Courageous leaders (and courageous emerging leaders) don't tolerate, they ENGAGE in the feedback conversation no matter the feeling of fear. They step out onto the ledge of learning (that narrow, unguarded, unsafe ledge!) and have the conversation.

Have you given feedback upwards? How did you go?