Courageous Leadership

I was staying at a friend’s house recently. Rebecca works as a hypnotherapist and has some successful leaders as clients. She shared a story of how she helped one leader, who was so stressed about an upcoming meeting that she had a panic attack in the car out the front of the building.  The leader called Rebecca, and they had a conversation that helped the leader to step into courage. She went into the meeting feeling more calm and confident, and the meeting went well.

Lack of courage will arise in teams where people don’t feel safe to have honest conversations. And a lack of honest conversations is expensive.

Research from Crucial Learning found that one in three employees believed a failure to speak up at an important workplace moment had cost their organisation at least US$25,000. Gallup research also shows that one meaningful conversation each week with every team member develops high-performance relationships more than any other leadership activity.

The message is clear: avoiding feedback conversations can be expensive, while regular conversations can build trust, clarity and performance.

I saw this quote on a tapestry on Rebecca’s living room wall:

‘Courage: not the absence of fear or despair, but the strength to conquer them’.

As a leader, where could you step more fully into courage to either offer or hear feedback?