Illuminate
Last month, this buzzword-loather dropped “Managerial Courage” into the jargon casserole. If managerial courage is an inward reflection to find the strength to address problems, processes and situations in your life, then how do you turn that outward, into action? How do you reflect to the world the type of leader you are?
One of the reasons that I like coaching and supporting people and organizations through moments of change is because I get to be nosy, because I get to ask questions and be curious. It brings me joy to figure out what makes people tick, and what motivates them to do the things they do.*
Not too long ago, I was browsing at One More Page, a local small bookshop, and I happened to overhear (read: eavesdrop on) two women chatting as they wandered the shelves. Woman 1 complained that things were going well for work, but it just didn't feel good anymore. She felt disconnected from her staff. And her board of directors kept asking her, what's the plan? What's next? She didn't understand why they couldn't just enjoy where they were right now. Why did they have to continue to look ahead? She said to her friend, “I've got a fucking Chief Operations Officer, isn't this his job?”
Her friend countered that maybe it's not an operational thing. “Maybe it's an HR thing. When was the last time you did a strategic plan?”
And W1 said that she had to do a business plan to get investments and they strategize on products, but they don’t have anything multi-year and she didn't even know where to start. And quite honestly, it's not important to her.
That was my cue. I came around the shelves so fast. Nosey Kari, ready with questions! I (probably shouted) said,
“I happened to overhear what you were saying. And I’m curious, what is important to you?”
No one had asked her that question before, and she certainly hadn’t paused to ask it of herself. She looked confused, which was really incongruous with the clarity of her answer:
She wanted to deliver a good product
She wanted to have an impact
She wanted to treat her people well
What she didn’t know was how to marry what was important to her as a business owner with the actions being asked for by those who were invested in her business’ success. The intersection between importance and actions? That’s an area of opportunity.
Like W1, I speak with a lot of luminary leaders who embrace managerial courage but get stuck on where to start. It’s not enough to be honest and transparent and empathetic and vulnerable. You deserve to put that into motion. You deserve to shake things up for the sake of clarity and evolution.
It begins with knowing what’s important to you– what matters. From there, give yourself the gift of many voices– bring in the points of view that you trust to share the weight of bringing action to your managerial courage. Shed your ego. Get granular and specific in approach, timeline and measurement. And figure out how you’ll hold each other accountable.
Step back and reflect: do these outcomes reflect the luminary leader you are? Do the steps along the way resonate with your style?
Managerial courage without external commitment is just a day-dream.
Let’s move.
*As a side note, I think this is one of the reasons why I consume as much true crime as I do. It’s not because of the macabre… it's more along the lines of ‘what makes a person do that?’. And then the people who survive those experiences, how do they go on? How do they take that experience as a moment of their life? And then, how do they continue to live?
