Courageous Leadership in Uncertain Times
In the past few months, the gap between what organisations are saying and what there are doing is becoming ever wider.
Whether it is silencing women with an NDA and money to stop them from speaking up against sexism or whether it is signing a pledge and not taking any action, what has been missing has been courageous leaders.
When you google courageous leaders, they are defined by the qualities they display.
- Allowing employees to grow.
- Being humble
- They embolden others to speak out and they speak out themselves.
Yet despite all these qualities, there is a word missing. Accountability.
Courageous leaders don’t just speak about their goals and what they would like the company to achieve, when it comes to diversity and inclusion. They don’t hope and pray that the changes they would like to see will eventually trickle down.
They actively hold accountability. They may not personally speak to each person in the chain of command, but they ensure that there are enough processes and measurement mechanisms in place, to hold everyone accountable for these changes.
What does that look like in practice?
The following steps might be taken for senior management:
The CEO/CFO will meet with senior management outlining the company's goals and focus and ask senior managers to create their channel/department strategy.
The C-Suite reviews the strategies in meetings with each of the channel heads to learn more about how they plan to implement it and then approve them.
The implementation and its success forms part of senior management's yearly performance targets.
The outline above is a simplified version, but what this method does, is to create clear alignment and synergy and it works when everyone agrees in making systemic changes within the business.
What about when an influential person doesn't agree with the changes and isn’t convinced that more needs to be done for gender equality or racial equity? What happens then?
It is in this exact moment, that courageous leaders shine. It is how they negotiate working with obstruction that will show if they are truly courageous or not.
Being successful in these situations isn’t about trying to waste energy to convince someone who isn’t interested that they need to change, but rather making it clear, that their obstruction will not be tolerated, that the changes will be going ahead and their lack of participation will have an impact on their salary and bonus.
Holding an employee accountable who could negatively impact the company’s progress is uncomfortable, awkward and unpleasant, but a courageous leader will focus on the higher purpose. Allowing one person or a small group of people to prevent the company from progressing is not in the company’s best interests.
Companies that are built for tomorrow prioritise social impact, gender equality and racial equity, and sustainability and are prepared to invest in improved processes, talent and strategy to ensure they have a business still.
And it is courageous leaders who are driving these companies forward despite the pushback.
What qualities do courageous leaders have?
They embrace their fear of being trailblazers and push forward to drive change.
They seek to centre and amplify the voices of those who have been historically excluded and ignored.
They have their finger on the pulse of where society is and is going.
They strongly believe in the fiduciary role in society that companies have
They believe in accountability
Courageous leaders always remember that their role is to use their position to not only keep a company successful but also to ensure that all employees who make up the fabric of their company are also happy to be there.
So are you a courageous leader?
