As a leader wanting to facilitate courage in action with your team requires real conversations and very real sharing. Invite people to do this, make it safe for them to do it and you find out the obstacles and the fears they harbour to being courageous. Engage in this kind of conversation and you find many people fear “rocking the boat.” So much safer and easier to go with the flow. I love the way Margie Warrell acknowledges this in her book: Find your Courage: 
“We stay silent, keep our thoughts to ourselves, and avoid all danger of rocking the boat. Ultimately we choose the certainty of never resolving an issue because of the possibility that our conversation won’t produce the outcome we want.”
These unsaid things impact on the quality of our relationships, the performance of the team and the level of engagement. Leaders need to support their people to find ways to make it expected and acceptable for everyone to be courageous – this is where my talking in draft concept fits well. I have talked about this in previous BLOGs. This means talking out loud the thoughts and feelings that pop into your mind and heart – without the need to polish them, because you don’t feel concerned about how you might be judged.
It means you agree to tell the truth and share openly with each other. It means you agree to receive what others say with the intent to think the best of the other person and come with a mindset of curiosity. Stop worrying about polishing your thoughts and checking out your feelings in case they are not “right”. Feelings are yours and they are always “right” for you! Learn to be present with them. Learn to acknowledge them and appreciate the importance of them.
People don’t want to look and feel silly so instead they remain silent and we lose them and their input. What fear and what a suit of armour we laden ourselves with to protect ourselves from the perceptions of others. Be courageous and stop this kind of behaviour.
What if you actively encouraged everyone to step up and be vulnerable with each other and realise the value of rocking the boat in a constructive way.
We need more courageous leaders to actively encourage their team members to rock the boat.
