3 Courageous Ways to Conquer Negative Leadership Behaviors

By Lee Ellis

Climbing Mt Everest. Saving a family from a burning building. An American soldier defending freedom in remote parts of world. These scenarios are clear acts of honor and courage. So for the rest of us, does the concept of courage seem less important? It shouldn’t because every day small acts of courage by honorable leaders make significant impacts in our lives and culture.

Today’s Culture of Honor

If you’re like me, it’s sobering to witness the lack of honor in leaders across every spectrum of life. I’m talking about violations of basic principles of integrity and respect for duty that we see played out on a daily basis in the news. What makes this so scary is that most human beings will tell you that they have good character and high integrity. Even those individuals and leaders that get outfitted in an orange jumpsuit still rationalize that they have done nothing wrong.

So if we all steadfastly assume we have great character, what’s the missing link? I like to think of honor as a three legged stool that is supported by –

Character
Courage
Commitment

I’ll say it another way –

“Be Courageous. Lean into the pain of your doubts and fears to do what you know is right, even when it feels unnatural or uncomfortable.” [Tweet This]

The Key to Courage

If you examine examples of dishonorable behavior, courage is likely what is lacking. It’s not that people don’t know what to do—it’s that they don’t have the courage that it takes to make the honorable choice and act on it. And unfortunately, you or someone on your team is more naturally inclined to these destructive behaviors. [Tweet This] That’s why we routinely use behavioral assessments like Leadership Behavior DNA to learn the dynamics of each team member and how they can help balance each other.

Consider these words of famous thought leaders of the past –

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities…because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” Winston Churchill

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. ”   C.S. Lewis

Growing in courage is at the core of any personal or leadership development plan. Otherwise, fear will take us out of the battle and lead us to abandon our good intentions. This concept isn’t about attaining perfection—it’s about adopting courage and honor as the guiding force for our daily decision-making.

Choosing Courage Instead of Fear

Though the issues of dishonor that we see in our culture aren’t about torture, pain or physical suffering, they are founded in fear. Three common leadership behaviors that fear-based leaders avoid are –

Confronting poor attitudes and behavior.
Giving positive, encouraging feedback.
Standing up for what’s right when others are laying low.

For many leaders—even experienced leaders—these are painful ventures to be avoided at all cost. Cowardly leadership responses undermine the organization and lead to many other problems of accountability, execution, and morale.

We all have our fear points and times of weakness, so here are three things we can do to be more courageous –

Become more aware of your doubts and fears. Stop and reflect on the areas where you’re putting off making a decision or taking action. More than likely you need courage to move ahead.
Sort it out and make a plan. If you don’t have clarity, check in with a teammate or someone you trust to get their perspective of the situation. They don’t have the same emotional investment or concerns you have, and they may be able to encourage you in your next steps.
Lean into the pain of your doubts and fears to do what you know is right. You can’t go wrong doing right. Just start moving ahead with your plan.

In hindsight, it’s amazing how often lies about ourselves and the situation are the source of our doubts and fears.  Courage helps us disarm lies, discover truth, and ultimately deliver us more freedom.

Remember to be courageous. And as one of my POW buddies wisely adds, “Courage is contagious.”

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