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On choosing courage over comfort
One of the bottlenecks most organisations experience is communication.
A survey of 10,000 leaders from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies tells us that most people believe avoiding tough conversations is polite.
But the truth is choosing comfort over giving feedback negatively affects team engagement and performance.
Opting out of important conversations such as change, diversity and inclusivity can silently corrode trust among our teams without us noticing it.
As leaders, we are responsible for creating spaces for courageous conversations.
Dialogues where two or more people are open to learning and creating a culture of direct communication.
Leaders and team members are not afraid to challenge current systems, foster improvement, and act on feedback.
Your roadmap to having courageous conversations
We need to be committed to finding solutions to continue on the path to achieving our mission, vision and values. Here are three steps to go about it and maximise our leadership success.
Vulnerability. It is not a weakness but rather a superpower. It is about letting go of our ego and leaving behind the need to look like we've got it all together. Being vulnerable gives us the power to feel comfortable in pushing against the status quo and asking if there are more effective or productive ways to reach goals. Vulnerable leaders can live in alignment with their values and build collective strength.
Trust. Sometimes you can communicate in a very measured and precise way but still be misinterpreted. But when communicating in a high-trust relationship, even if you lack precision, the person will take time to understand you. Trust is the glue that holds people, teams and organisations together. It is about having confidence in their integrity and abilities.
The foundation of trust with others is based on our ability to trust ourselves. We must move past the attitude of “this is the way we’ve always done this.” We must learn to trust ourselves to move past the silence and make courageous conversations possible.
Building the capacity for courageous conversations. It is like allowing yourself to open the doors of your small, warm, comfortable room. Even if you don’t know where they’ll take you, you gain a better understanding of the possibilities. This way, you’ll have more capacity to grow.
As we shed our vulnerabilities, build up our trust bank, and create capacity, we begin to view courageous conversations not as “this feels icky” but instead as a time to celebrate!
Inside, you'll find a valuable worksheet to help you reflect on how to implement what you learned and achieve leadership growth one step at a time.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to unlock your full capacity and become a more influential leader. Click the link below to download now!