Leaders aren’t meant to be timid. They can’t run and hide from their problems or the problems of their teams. Leaders need to be courageous. They have to show courage in times of struggle.
You may feel like a little church mouse, tip-toeing and avoiding the challenges of your day. Or you may feel like you can take on the world. Whether you feel like the church mouse or the big, bad leader ready to go, every leader can use a little more courage. You can become a more courageous leader.
Becoming a more courageous leader takes courage. It also takes intentionality. You have to be willing to grow, stretch, and build upon what you’ve already built. You can do it.
In this article, we’ll look at 4 ways you can become more courageous.
How To Become A More Courageous Leader
Practice Failing:
Many leaders aren’t as courageous as they can be because they fail failure. The thought becomes “If I can’t be 100% successful, I won’t be a great leader.”
Failure doesn’t preclude you from being a great leader. Failure helps you become a great leader.
Lolly Daskal shares in this blog post why failure makes you a better leader. I think failure goes beyond making you a better leader. Failure makes you a more courageous leader.
When you have looked failure in the face, you begin to fear failure less. This lack of fear encourages you to take bigger, bolder risks.
The less fear you have, the more courageous you can be.
Create A Support Team:
You can increase your courage by building a team that will support you in the good and bad teams. These people won’t be yes-men. These people will be people who will support you through your successes and your failures.
A support team will help you get through the challenges of making a courageous decision. Your team will tell you “good job” or “your last decision was bad, let’s work through it.”
Having a team there with you will help you understand the consequences of making a courageous decision. They can also input their wisdom and help you determine whether it is courage or stupidity behind your decision making.
Look To The Future:
When you don’t have a clear vision of your future, making courageous decisions becomes more difficult. Great leaders make courageous decisions because they know by taking a risk they are taking a step toward their vision.
If you are not looking to the future, you won’t know what you’re working towards. If you don’t know what you’re working toward, fear will take hold. You won’t feel courageous in making decisions because there’s no endpoint.
Look to the future. Have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. Be courageous in going for it.
Study Others:
Want to build courage in doing the hard things? Study others who have been courageous. Look at the lives of those who have gone before you and been successful.
Each of these successful people has had to act courageously. They have chosen to walk through fear and come out on the other side.
When you study other successful people, you will see that courage is possible. You will see how courage played a major role in their success.
Begin to learn about others. Their success will fuel your courage.
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