Two Signs Of A Courageous Leader
It's pretty easy to find affable, eloquent and charismatic leaders; executives and managers who talk a good game are a dime a dozen. But will those leaders show courage? Will they stand up for what's right, make tough decisions, and set an example for their team? It's not always easy to spot courageous leaders, but here are two signs that can help you figure it out.
Sign #1: Courageous Leaders Aren't Afraid Of Risks Or New Ideas
Innovation and breaking with the status quo takes courage; it's not easy to stand up and admit that there's a better way to do something you've done for years, especially if the current approach was developed internally. That's why a Leadership IQ study called The State Of Leadership Development discovered that only 29% of employees say their leader is always open to using ideas/practices from outside the company to improve performance. It takes courage to admit that another person or company is better at something than we are, so typically, only courageous leaders will embrace ideas from the outside.
Relatedly, the vast majority of leaders don't love taking risks, even if the payoff is a breakthrough innovation. The study, Managers Don't Love Innovators, revealed that a measly 8% of employees say that their leaders are always willing to take a chance at failure for the sake of innovation. Big ideas and innovations require at least a modicum of risk. One reason that legendary innovators like Steve Jobs are so revered is that many leaders just don't have the courage to take the necessary risks.
Sign #2: Courageous Leaders Aren't Afraid Of Hearing Bad News
Everyone knows that employees often have to work through unnecessary roadblocks, convoluted processes, micromanaging, and all sorts of company-inflicted counterproductiveness. In fact, a study called Frustration At Work exposed that the frustrations that employees face are so severe that around 60% say those frustrations make them want to look for other jobs. And perhaps not surprisingly, the majority of those frustrations are easily fixed, like non-compliance, overwork, process inefficiencies, inattention to quality, poor priority management, meeting overload, micromanagement, and communication breakdowns.
Why don't leaders simply ask employees about their frustrations and then just fix those issues? The simple answer is often a lack of courage. Many of those frustrations are caused by leaders, and it takes courage to ask an employee what's causing their burnout when you know that answer is probably something that you, the leader, did.
When a leader has courage, however, it doesn't matter that they're the root cause of the problem. If they can fix the problem, they will. Sure, it will hurt a bit when one of their employees points out the leader's mistakes, but for the courageous leader, that's a small price to pay in order to fix a serious issue.
What's clear from these indicators of courage is that speeches and memos don't define courage. Anyone can deliver a speech filled with lovely words about courage and doing the right thing, but only a select few leaders will actually have the tough conversations, listen to critical feedback, and take real risks. If you're willing to dig a little into a leader's real-life actions, you'll quickly find that spotting courageous leaders isn't really that hard.
