Why You Need Courage to Reach Your Goals Part 3

In my two previous blogs on this topic, I discussed the five courage activators from the book Lead from the Middle, along with the story of Melissa in her recent position at a new pharmaceutical company. She had ambitious goals to improve a product launch and faced some difficult obstacles. I illustrated how the courage activators of purpose and will helped her face her fears and advance a strategy for gaining sponsorship. In this blog, I will introduce how leading with risk will help you invest in someone else’s success, which will create opportunities for yourself and others.

This means stepping out to support your team and going out on a limb.

Step 1: Let go of control. Empower, trust and equip your partners to fly solo. You do this with the intention of making yourself the arranger rather than the composer, the conductor rather than the member of a particular section and the vocal coach and discerning ear rather than the virtuoso soloist in the spotlight.

Once Melissa aligned others with her ambitious goals and purpose, she helped them face fears and listened with empathy to their concerns about risks. She collaborated with them on a plan to mitigate those risks. She then asked some powerful questions to help her coworkers take charge of their part of the plan. She asked, “What are you willing to do to contribute to getting this product launch on the right track?” “What support do you want from me to do this?”

Step 2: Establish a foundation of trust, promote win-win partnerships and build the kinds of relationships that will encourage others to invest in your success. Trust starts with communication and is cemented with integrity and following through on promises.

Melissa took the time in her meetings to discover what kind of support would bring mutual satisfaction by asking, “When you’ve worked with colleagues you trust highly, what do they do to foster that with you?” 

Step 3: Step up to support those you count on.  By taking the time to build trust and credibility and confronting coworkers in a way that says, “I’m on your side” and “I’ve got your back,” you can reflect and appreciate how teamwork can move things forward.

Melissa let her colleagues take the lead and work out the issues that would block advancement towards the goal. She stepped in to provide coaching when needed and used words of encouragement and appreciation as her colleagues advanced forward.

Leading with risk means setting high standards and holding colleagues to them while offering empowerment, support and appreciation. In the next blog, I will discuss leading with rigor. Stay tuned…

-Andrea Zintz, Career Coach