Leadership, and teamwork, are a gutsy game. If we are to make real progress and build amazing teams, we need courage. Courage to speak our minds, courage to try new things, courage to show up and be seen.
In my facilitation work, I often see small acts of courage.
Annette never counted herself as an outdoorsy person and she was terrified of heights. After slogging up a steep hill, at the top I let the group know we had the opportunity to abseil into the mouth of a cave.
Confined spaces and heights all wrapped up in one.
Annette began to tremble and pressed her lips together.
The technician was an enthusiastic young man who gave the impression of sweeping vistas in all his gestures and demeanour, as if nature itself tilted along his axis. He beamed like the sun.
Annette hid in the shadows, dreading her turn.
One by one Hamish the technician despatched the participants down the hole into the ground, abseiling into darkness with yelps of anxiety and excitement.
Annette stood, abseiling gloves in hand, helmet clipped, headlamp on, face white.
Hamish the abseil-whisperer coached and coaxed her to the edge, securing her on belay. Her teammates cheered and encouraged. Annette said nothing. She nodded to Hamish with each of his instructions, and moved her feet in tiny steps at his bidding, breathing heavily to counter the shaking in her hands and limbs.
Bit by bit, she disappeared into the ground, and Hamish followed her progress, peering over the edge as he belayed her to safety and into the waiting arms of her whooping teammates. She’d made it.
It was the hardest thing she had ever done.
Managing our fears is a visceral, full-bodied experience. Our rational brain can tally the risks, but our survival brain floods our system with adrenaline and cortisol to ensure we stay safe. It’s uncomfortable and exhausting.
It’s easier to do hard things in a structured program.
Far more difficult is the daily imperative that calls on us to be better and bolder.
Our inner voice shuts us down. We’re not good enough. We don’t know enough. They’ll laugh at us. We’ll be attacked and ostracised.
Better to stay quiet and keep our head down.
But leadership means being visible. Leadership means being the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Leadership means defending the rights of those who have been oppressed by others. Leadership means living by our values even if that costs us friendships, popularity and position.
Courage is a Cauldron we need to stoke. When we fire it up, the energy of conviction and commitment boils upwards and fuels our actions.
But we forget.
We forget to keep our Cauldron boiling. We forget that it has already been filled many times before.
We have a lifetime of Courage in our Cauldron!
Stoke Your Cauldron:
Cast your mind back to your first decade. Think of challenges you experienced and overcame. List them.
Consider each next decade in turn: what have been your achievements? When did you put yourself out there and took a risk? What did you learn as a result?
What are you proud of? Write these down.
What is the bravest thing you have ever done? How did you approach it? What did you discover about yourself? Document these.
Who do you think is more brave than you? What is something you have done that they would think is courageous?
What’s one thing you are avoiding? What is on the other side of having tackled that one thing?
Dirt dive into your possible failure: imagine trying something and failing. Imagine the worst case scenario. Really feel the emotions of shame and disappointment. Once those pass, would you be okay? The answer is always yes.
For when we come to our last days, we do not want to recall what we did not do; we want to revel in the bumps and bruises of a life well-lived, of having dared greatly, of having stepped into the wilderness and found a way through.
Be the leader you aspire to be with one small courageous act at a time.
Think not of what others might think of you, but how you think and care for others.
When we spend our lives and moments in uplifting others, we find the strength to carry more than we thought.
I’m uplifted by stories of survival: of those who escaped persecution by the Nazis, and those who helped them.
I’m uplifted by stories of kindness: of those who shelter the homeless, those who listen on the end of a phone line to desperate cries of anguish, those who tend the sick and elderly with tender hands.
I’m uplifted by stories of those who speak truth to power: Alexei Navalny who railed against Putin, was jailed and likely killed for his democratic advocacy.
I want to be uplifted by your stories, your courage.
Please share them! Telling your story is an act of courage in itself. Don’t hide your courageous acts and deny the opportunity of upliftment to others.
What is something courageous you’ve done, or seen somebody else do recently? Please share.
Live with grace, lead in service.
Zoë
Learn more about the Cauldron of Courage in Power Games: A leader’s Guide to Office Politics and Drama-Free Collaboration.
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Zoë Routh is a leadership futurist, podcaster, and multiple award-winning author. She works with leaders and teams to explore what's coming and what it means for leadership of the future.
Zoë is an outdoor adventurist and enjoys telemark skiing, has run 6 marathons, is a one-time belly-dancer, has survived cancer, and loves hiking in the high country. She is married to a gorgeous Aussie and is a self-confessed dark chocolate addict.