I engaged in a few conversations recently about the link between courage
and business outcomes. What is the business benefit of engaging more
courageously with each other?
When people hold themselves personally accountable to turn up more
courageously then conversations are different – they are more open, more
real, more challenging and ultimately result in improved:
1. Decisions – higher quality, greater speed, willingness to diverge
before they converge into a final decision and higher levels of buy in
to implement and embrace the decisions
2. Engagement – when people are real with each other and share openly
there is heartfelt connection and people bring themselves completely to
the resulting actions and activities
3. Intellectual application to business issues – when people are
enCOURAGEd to bring their thoughts, ideas and feelings openly and in a
very real way then you are leveraging the intellect of each person and
this adds up to far greater intellectual capability than just that of
the boss – it is simple mathematics!
4. Innovation and entrepreneurial thinking – because people are actively
invited to think outside the box and test the boundaries without fear of
retribution, labelling and judgement
5. Collaboration – increased speed at which people work together to
achieve a result in an innovative way, while feeling inspired and
engaged. Ultimately this provides a competitive advantage in the market
place.
And it all starts by bringing personal accountability for being
courageous. It works quicker and with greater success when it is
initiated and lead from the top – the existing leaders.
My initial and quick thoughts demonstrate the business outcomes for
putting courage into action are significant.
