Mark had been on my team for about a year before he got word his position in Nashville was being eliminated. Mark was initially offered a similar position in Chicago, which would put him in a great city, but would remove him from my team.
Mark resisted.
For weeks, he came up with different scenarios that would *fingers crossed* allow him to continue working we me. He loved that our team — a work community that expected and celebrated risk-taking. Our team had a strong focus on giving constructive feedback, elevating each others’ ideas, testing the reliability of our skills and performing excellent work.
It wasn’t until Mark’s near refusal to leave that I recognized I had built something special: a Courage-Ready Culture™ where team members felt equipped to engage with uncertainty for the good of the team and business.
Through my work as a leadership development strategist and student of courage, I’ve come to understand how critical it is for teams and organizations to cultivate a culture where risk-taking is routine in order to position themselves for the future.
Here’s what your team or organization needs to have a Courage-Ready Culture. Then, you can decide if you’re working within one.
What is a Courage-Ready Culture?
Defining company culture can be difficult (like deciding where to eat out). The simplest and most digestible definition, though, may come from Gallup, which defines culture as,”how we do things around here.” Culture is how people within an organization exemplify company values within the smallest tasks to the biggest projects. It’s the company vibe potential new hires assess to see if it’s a place they’d like to work. Culture is the palpable energy that attracts or repels customers.
Culture, quite honestly, is everything. According to Lou Gerstner Jr. from IBM, “culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.”
So, how do you tap into the fullness of that capacity? I believe doing so requires creating Courage-Ready Culture where people within the organization are equipped to take worthwhile risks.
There are three critical parts to this definition worthy of breaking down: courage-ready, equipped and desire.
In a Courage-Ready Culture, people are equipped to take worthwhile risks.
Courage-Ready – When you think of a football player being game-ready, you may imagine the player going hard on drills, watching tapes, or meditating to visualize success. When a piece of art is camera-ready, it has been set up with the bleeds and crop marks necessary to be printed. Being ready means being well-positioned to engage with possibility — in these cases, the possibility (but not the guarantee) of winning or becoming a canvas. If a professional, then, is courage-ready, they are well-positioned to take risks and engage with both uncertainty and possibility when delivering on an organization’s strategic agenda. In a courage-ready culture, that professional exists in multiples.
Equipped – When professionals are equipped within a Courage-Ready Culture, they have the support, ability and desire they need to take risks and engage with uncertainty and possibility.
Support is more than a pat on the back. It’s about having someone’s back. It’s psychological safety and protection from outside interference. Research shows that “positive team climate is the most important driver of psychological safety,” and it’s often the team leader’s responsibility to create it. When psychological safety is present, team members don’t fret about being retaliated against for disagreeing or being humiliated for making a mistake. They, instead, feel empowered to make decisions in service of the team’s agenda. Support also shows up in a courage-ready culture as active listening (not brushing off, waiting to reply, or interrupting … but listening) so team members feel respected and heard. In addition, the word “no” is infrequently used. Leaders committed to a Courage-ready Culture prioritize curiosity, collaboration and “finding the yes” in their team members’ ideas. Support looks, feels and sounds like, “Win, lose or draw: We’re in this together.”
Leaders committed to a Courage-ready Culture prioritize curiosity, collaboration and “finding the yes” in their team members’ ideas.
Having the right ability, means professionals have the tools and training to believe in the reliability of their skills. They know how to appropriately evaluates risks so they can move forward with insight rather than insecurity. They understand the kind of motivation necessary to sustain them as they navigate through challenge. And, they have the skill and confidence to anchor them if less-than-ideal outcomes arise.
Desire – Lastly, professionals need the right desire to be equipped in a courage-ready culture. Their willingness to take risks is determined, in part, by how well they are encouraged by their circumstances. And, their circumstances are shaped, for better or worse, by what they see. Afterall, seeing is believing. They want to see their managers model courageous behavior by speaking up and advocating for what is right. Research shows that observing how someone confidently responds to a situation that you may later encounter could increase your propensity to respond in a similar way. Verbal affirmation can also influence desire. When managers’ verbally affirm their team members — when the remind them about their skills, strengths and capabilities — they can positively impact psychological and behavioral outcomes.
Worthwhile Risk – Risks worth taking in the workplace are not double dog dares to see who can perform the best or fastest. They, instead, relate to speaking up, stepping up and showing up authentically to be in service of an organization’s strategic agenda, particularly when there is challenge and uncertainty . When professionals take these actions, they are known to be courageously owning their brilliance.
Why does my organization need a courage-ready culture?
Organizations are made up of people — people who, ultimately, determine the level of success and influence their organizations attain. Reaching the highest levels of innovation, growth, service and success depend upon professionals doing more than what they are told. It depends upon them substantially and repeatedly accessing and applying their brilliance, which generates from their unique combination of background, education and experience. This combination paired with their skills and talents is precisely the place that informs their creativity and contribution to their organization. It’s the place where professionals challenge half-baked ideas that they know won’t deliver anticipated results or raise concerns about gender or racial exclusion in the newest campaign. It’s the place from where they ask for help, give critical feedback and raise their hand to take the lead.
Organizations have a substantial responsibility to create the conditions where their people can contribute their highest value, particularly when doing so is met with challenge and uncertainty.
But, going there isn’t always easy. In fact, it can be rather risky. Professionals can bump up against the status quo, resistance born out of insecurity and other environmental barriers that deter them from sharing their best. And, environment determines behavior. Therefore, organizations have a substantial responsibility to create the conditions where their people can contribute their highest value, particularly when doing so is met with challenge and uncertainty. When the right conditions exist, professionals at all levels within an organization are equipped with the support, ability and desire to take worthwhile risks — risks that are necessary for professional and organizational growth.
How do I know if my team environment is reflective of a Courage-Ready Culture?
Here are seven guiding questions to consider. If you answer “no” to any one of these, you aren’t working in a Courage-Ready Culture just yet.
1. Do I trust that if I speak up with an unpopular opinion or make a mistake, my manager will support me through it?
2. Do I have confidence that if I speak up with an unconventional idea or solution to a problem, my manager and team members listen and offer ways to elevate the idea, rather than dismiss it?
3. Do I have confidence that the leaders on my team will try to find the yes in my ideas, rather than tell me that “we just don’t do it that way around here?”
4. Do I know how to properly evaluate risks to determine if they are worth taking?
5. Do I know how to properly evaluate my motivations for taking risks?
6. Do I know how to properly evaluate my internal resources to determine if they form a reliable foundation to navigate challenge and uncertainty?
7. Do I see my the leaders on my team and in my organization taking risks (like speak up, stepping up or showing up authentically) to be service of the organization’s strategic agenda?
When reflecting on my own team at Chipotle, I know having a Courage-Ready Culture was at the center of what made our team successful. It was foundational to our team delivering some of the program’s biggest wins. It was a critical factor in why Mark, so relentlessly, wanted to stay on my team.
And, eventually his efforts to do so paid off. Mark ended up staying on my team until the end.
Do you work in a Courage-Ready Culture? Leave your comments.
