TEC Canada Group 422 “2014 In Review”

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing interest in my TEC Group and give you a bit of an update. 

2014 was an incredible year.

Over the past six months, I have had the privilege of bringing together and working with a remarkable group of business leaders. It is exciting and rewarding to lead a group of professionals with a passion for business and leadership excellence and enabling them, as a team, to share their drive and commitment to enrich each other’s ability to achieve their individual business, professional and personal goals.

Let me share some of the highlights:

• Member organizations have combined revenues of over $1.3 billion and more than 3,000 employees.
• This group comprises leaders representing broad industry backgrounds and experience including construction, business services, retail, manufacturing, distribution, franchising and technology.
• Member companies pursue global market opportunities including Canada, US, EU, Middle East
• The group holds monthly advisory board executive sessions  during which the team has processed issues  and opportunities involving leadership challenges, acquisition/divestiture strategies, new business              launches, financial re-organization, US expansion, organizational development, board strategy and management, senior level staffing and reorganization, branding and marketing , retail strategy and          manufacturing.
• Monthly 1-2-1 mentoring sessions are held with each member focusing on business and personal growth.

In just a few months, I can see the positive effect this experience is having on the individual members and their organizations. The other day, one member told me that  the group has had a huge positive impact on him and his business. Others have shared with me how the quality of their decisions, strategies and overall problem solving has noticeably improved. 

Access to fresh thinking and challenging conversations with peers has enhanced their personal effectiveness. They comment on how “stress reducing” it is to be part of a group of liked-minded leaders with whom they can share and discuss matters that normally they would need to deal with in relative isolation.

2015 will be an exciting year. My goal is the expand the group to 16 members. If you (or anyone in your network) sees the value of being part of a high performing group and are willing to contribute to its continued growth and development please connect with me and lets discuss if being a TEC member is for you.

Richard (Dick) Peters

Chair

T.E.C. (THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE) Ltd.

39 Riverdale Ave.

Toronto, Ontario M4K 1C2

(416) 471-1956

rpeters@tec-canada.com

 

The Most Successful Leaders Do 15 Things Automatically, Every Day

Glenn Llopis, 

Leadership is learned behavior that becomes unconscious and automatic over time.  For example, leaders can make several important decisions about an issue in the time it takes others to understand the question.   Many people wonder how leaders know how to make the best decisions, often under immense pressure.  The process of making these decisions comes from an accumulation of experiences and encounters with a multitude of difference circumstances, personality types and unforeseen failures.   More so, the decision making process is an acute understanding of being familiar with the cause and effect of behavioral and circumstantial patterns;  knowing the intelligence and interconnection points of the variables involved in these patterns allows a leader to confidently make decisions and project the probability of their desired outcomes.   The most successful leaders are instinctual decision makers.  Having done it so many times throughout their careers, they become immune to the pressure associated with decision making and extremely intuitive about the process of making the most strategic and best decisions. This is why most senior executives will tell you they depend strongly upon their “gut-feel” when making difficult decisions at a moment’s notice.

Beyond decision making, successful leadership across all areas becomes learned and instinctual over a period of time. Successful leaders have learned the mastery of anticipating business patterns, finding opportunities in pressure situations, serving the people they lead and overcoming hardships.   No wonder the best CEOs are paid so much money.   In 2011, salaries for the 200 top-paid CEOs rose 5 percent to a median $14.5 million per year, according to a study by compensation-data company Equilar for The New York Times.

If you are looking to advance your career into a leadership capacity and / or already assume leadership responsibilities – here are 15 things you must do automatically, every day, to be a successful leader in the workplace:


1.  Make Others Feel Safe to Speak-Up
Many times leaders intimidate their colleagues with their title and power when they walk into a room.   Successful leaders deflect attention away from themselves and encourage others to voice their opinions.  They are experts at making others feel safe to speak-up and confidently share their perspectives and points of view.   They use their executive presence to create an approachable environment.

2.  Make Decisions
Successful leaders are expert decision makers.    They either facilitate the dialogue to empower their colleagues to reach a strategic conclusion or they do it themselves.  They focus on “making things happen” at all times – decision making activities that sustain progress.   Successful leaders have mastered the art of politicking and thus don’t waste their time on issues that disrupt momentum.  They know how to make 30 decisions in 30 minutes.

3.  Communicate Expectations
Successful leaders are great communicators, and this is especially true when it comes to “performance expectations.”   In doing so, they remind their colleagues of the organization’s core values and mission statement – ensuring that their vision is properly translated and actionable objectives are properly executed.

I had a boss that managed the team by reminding us of the expectations that she had of the group.   She made it easy for the team to stay focused and on track.  The protocol she implemented – by clearly communicating expectations – increased performance and helped to identify those on the team that could not keep up with the standards she expected from us.


4.  Challenge People to Think
The most successful leaders understand their colleagues’ mindsets, capabilities and areas for improvement.  They use this knowledge/insight to challenge their teams to think and stretch them to reach for more.   These types of leaders excel in keeping their people on their toes, never allowing them to get comfortable and enabling them with the tools to grow.

If you are not thinking, you’re not learning new things.  If you’re not learning, you’re not growing – and over time becoming irrelevant in your work.



5.  Be Accountable to Others
Successful leaders allow their colleagues to manage them.  This doesn’t mean they are allowing others to control them – but rather becoming accountable to assure they are being proactive to their colleagues needs.

Beyond just mentoring and sponsoring selected employees, being accountable to others is a sign that your leader is focused more on your success than just their own.


6.  Lead by Example
Leading by example sounds easy, but few leaders are consistent with this one.   Successful leaders practice what they preach and are mindful of their actions. They know everyone is watching them and therefore are incredibly intuitive about detecting those who are observing their every move, waiting to detect a performance shortfall.



7.  Measure & Reward Performance
Great leaders always have a strong “pulse” on business performance and those people who are the performance champions. Not only do they review the numbers and measure performance ROI, they are active in acknowledging hard work and efforts (no matter the result).    Successful leaders never take consistent performers for granted and are mindful of rewarding them.
   
8.  Provide Continuous Feedback
Employees want their leaders to know that they are paying attention to them and they appreciate any insights along the way.  Successful leaders always provide feedback and they welcome reciprocal feedback by creating trustworthy relationships with their colleagues..   They understand the power of perspective and have learned the importance of feedback early on in their career as it has served them to enable workplace advancement.

9.  Properly Allocate and Deploy Talent
Successful leaders know their talent pool and how to use it.  They are experts at activating the capabilities of their colleagues and knowing when to deploy their unique skill sets given the circumstances at hand.
  

10.  Ask Questions, Seek Counsel
Successful leaders ask questions and seek counsel all the time.  From the outside, they appear to know-it-all – yet on the inside, they have a deep thirst for knowledge and constantly are on the look-out to learn new things because of their commitment to making themselves better through the wisdom of others.


11.  Problem Solve; Avoid Procrastination
Successful leaders tackle issues head-on and know how to discover the heart of the matter at hand.    They don’t procrastinate and thus become incredibly proficient at problem solving; they learn from and don’t avoid uncomfortable circumstances (they welcome them).

Getting ahead in life is about doing the things that most people don’t like doing.


12.  Positive Energy & Attitude
Successful leaders create a positive and inspiring workplace culture.  They know how to set the tone and bring an attitude that motivates their colleagues to take action.   As such, they are likeable, respected and strong willed.  They don’t allow failures to disrupt momentum.


13.  Be a Great Teacher
Many employees in the workplace will tell you that their leaders have stopped being teachers.   Successful leaders never stop teaching because they are so self-motivated to learn themselves.  They use teaching to keep their colleagues well-informed and knowledgeable through statistics, trends, and other newsworthy items.

Successful leaders take the time to mentor their colleagues and make the investment to sponsor those who have proven they are able and eager to advance.

14.  Invest in Relationships
Successful leaders don’t focus on protecting their domain – instead they expand it by investing in mutually beneficial relationships. Successful leaders associate themselves with “lifters and other leaders” – the types of people that can broaden their sphere of influence.  Not only for their own advancement, but that of others.

Leaders share the harvest of their success to help build momentum for those around them.

15.  Genuinely Enjoy Responsibilities
Successful leaders love being leaders – not for the sake of power but for the meaningful and purposeful impact they can create.   When you have reached a senior level of leadership – it’s about your ability to serve others and this can’t be accomplished unless you genuinely enjoy what you do.

In the end, successful leaders are able to sustain their success because these 15 things ultimately allow them to increase the value of their organization’s brand – while at the same time minimize the operating risk profile.   They serve as the enablers of talent, culture and results.

12 Most Appealing Boss Behaviors

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Great bosses, like great coaches, get the most out of their players. If you’re lucky enough to work for one, it means you’ll develop skills more quickly, develop skills you never thought you had, advance in your career, and if you’re really lucky, enjoy coming to work every day.

Here are the 12 most appealing boss behaviors — behaviors appealing not only to a boss’s direct reports, but also to the bosses of the boss. 

1. Wants you to succeed
A great boss takes great satisfaction in helping an employee achieve results. This foundational aspect of the relationship is, more than anything, what builds the employee’s self-confidence, loyalty and passion for the job. In contrast, a boss who wants to keep the employee down and hog the spotlight creates a team of underachievers who will leave for greener pastures at the first opportunity. 

2. Always has time to talk
Just as great salespeople make you feel like you’re their only customer, great bosses make you feel like you’re their only responsibility. The door is always open. No issue is too pressing to distract their attention from the problem you are discussing, no matter how trivial it may seem. This is smart business. If the boss doesn’t appear to care about the employee’s problems, why should the employee care? 

3. Turns mistakes into teaching opportunities
A great boss doesn’t scream at you in the heat of battle for something you’re in the midst of screwing up. All that accomplishes is emotional flare-ups, shame and resentment. Instead, a great boss takes you aside later, in a period of calm, and goes over what happened. Part of that conversation may indeed be unpleasant, but you’ll come away knowing how to do better next time. Instead of fearing the next challenging situation, you’ll welcome it. 

4. Keeps you on your toes
Because great bosses want you to succeed, they don’t mind giving you tough love. They’ll push you to do better, point out mistakes and poke around in your business to make sure you’re putting in the hours and not taking shortcuts. A great boss I had even went so far as to call customers I called on that week to see if I showed up when I said I did, and if so, how the call went. It felt intrusive, but looking back, it made me a more productive sales rep than I ever would have become otherwise.  

5. Doesn’t micromanage
Even though great bosses keep you on your toes, they do it selectively, not 24/7. As any victim of micromanagement knows, a boss who constantly looks over your shoulder saps every ounce of creative energy out of you. It’s a slow, painful death. A great boss, in complete contrast, leaves matters in your hands, and can even make you feel at times like you’re working without a net. Feeling that independence and exposure to risk makes a job exciting and builds a sense of ownership in an employee.  

6. Has consistent expectations
When you work for a certain type of bad boss, you come to the office every day in a state of anxiety. If one day you’re being told that filling out detailed reports is your main priority, and the next day you’re being told entertaining customers is your main priority, you’re bound to get confused, and never know whether you’re about to be fired or promoted. On the other hand, if you’ve been working for a great boss for any length of time, you’ll know what the priorities are without anything being said at all. 

7. Has high expectations
Great bosses have high hopes for you — maybe higher than yours. A good boss praises you for a job well done and asks how you can do even better next time. The great boss gives you opportunities to further your education and take on new work challenges. 

8. Conducts formal performance reviews
Everybody knows daily encouragement and “attaboys” improve morale, but employees benefit even more from regularly scheduled, comprehensive performance reviews. Employees need and appreciate detailed feedback, even when it’s not all positive. And, formal reviews are an opportunity to set new expectations and build a clear career path. A boss who never has time for performance reviews, or doesn’t know how to conduct them, will never be more than mediocre. 

9. Communicates clearly and directly
Great bosses know how to make themselves understood. They know how to explain an assignment so employees can get going on it with confidence, and they know how to evaluate results so employees know exactly what they did well and what needs improvement. With a great boss, you always know where you stand; you’re never waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

10. Is decisive
From the employee’s perspective, “yes” is exciting, “no” is disappointing, and “maybe” is intolerable. Nothing kills enthusiasm and productivity like a boss who can’t make up his mind, who dithers and fiddles while Rome burns. Great bosses make reasoned decisions, and make them as quickly as circumstances allow. This keeps the team motivated and perhaps more importantly, moving. 

11. Takes responsibility
When great bosses make mistakes, they take ownership rather than lay off blame on subordinates. This not only goes a long way toward earning the respect and loyalty of subordinates, it sets an example and a high standard for everyone in the organization. 

12. Will fire you without hesitation
As soon as great bosses conclude that an employee is a hopelessly bad fit, they proceed with the termination. Getting fired is bad, of course — but stagnating in an unfulfilling, dead-end job for years or decades is far worse. Great bosses don’t allow that to happen; instead, they make the tough decision that gives an employee a chance to find the right fit, to pursue the best possible career.

As this list demonstrates, being a standout boss isn’t easy. Notice that all of the 12 items stress interpersonal skills rather than technical proficiency. This is why promoting, for instance, star sales reps into sales managers usually backfires. Being great at doing something won’t necessarily make you great at helping others do it.

Have you ever had a boss with some or all of these qualities? What qualities can you add to my list of appealing boss behaviors?

Brad Shorr

http://straightnorth.com
Brad Shorr is Director of B2B Marketing for Straight North, a full service Internet marketing agency with headquarters in Chicago. A blogger since 2005, he writes frequently on social media, content marketing, SEO and business strategy.

How CEOs Can Transform HR into a Revenue Driver

 

As I visit with big companies and organizations all over the world, it’s clear that most CEOs realize they need to make some dramatic changes in how they recruit people, align and manage performance, make compensation decisions, and optimize talent.

What’s not so clear to them is how they make that happen. While HR leaders and their teams are supposed to bring alive the cliché that “people are our most valuable asset,” many CEOs are not yet leading the way in giving those HR leaders the tools, authority, and organizational opportunity they need to unlock the value of the organizations’ talent pools.

Paradoxically, that lack of support from top executives is occurring even as 60 percent of CEOs surveyed by PwC say they’re concerned about not having enough talent, and/or the right mix of talent. As a result, those CEOs say, that talent gap is presenting them with some significant challenges:

• 31 percent said they couldn’t innovate effectively;
• 29 percent couldn’t pursue attractive market opportunities; and
• 24 percent had to cancel or delay a strategic initiative.

In many companies, a lack of CEO-level support for the HR organization and its mission keeps the HR team walled off from the ultimate sources of value in a company—revenue generation and customer engagement. This prevents HR executives from joining the rest of the company in using modern technology to gain new insights, make data-driven decisions, and engage with employees and customers more intimately and productively.

And that tricky situation will surely be compounded over the next few years as rapidly shifting demographics lead to a surge in millenials among your workforce: while millenials will comprise 36 percent of the workforce in 2014, they’ll make up almost half of it—46 percent—by 2020, according to a study conducted by the business school at the University of North Carolina.

The impact these young digital natives will have on your company isn’t limited to their sheer numbers. In fact, the biggest influence they’ll have is their demand—not their request, mind you, but their requirement—that the technology they use at work provides them with the same degree of social immersion, accessibility, and collaboration as the technology they use in their personal lives.

So the simple truth is that unless your company is offering these sorts of tools—indeed, these sorts of “workstyles”—then you’ll be sending a clear signal to recruits and new employees that you’re really not interested in hiring or keeping them.

For those companies that are willing to embrace the new social and mobile imperatives, you’ll find that modern HCM systems will improve employee engagement, productivity, and collaboration across the organization. By having social and mobile capabilities embedded in the key context of HR processes—from social sourcing, performance, and learning goal-setting and career management—these millennial-friendly companies will create engaging, two-way environments that don’t just allow but help people connect with each other and build mutually beneficial work relationships.

These are significant changes, and they require full support from the very top of the company. CEOs have to take ownership of this issue to ensure the ongoing viability of their companies. Otherwise:

• If your HR team lacks the tools to exploit social technologies to find excellent new recruits, how can your company find and hire the best people?
• If your HR team lacks the tools to identify high-potential stars within your organization and help create new high-impact opportunities for them, how will you retain top talent?
• If your HR team lacks the tools to tie compensation decisions to business strategy and real-world results, how will you be able to keep up in today’s ultracompetitive marketplace?

Let me offer a before-and-after example.

Let’s say Company XYZ has 100,000 employees, with annual compensation and benefits costing about $10 billion. At the annual budget meeting, everyone turns to the head of HR as the CEO asks, “What’s our plan for raises for next year?”

The HR leader squirms and looks a bit uncomfortable and says, “Our consultant says we should give 4 percent raises across the board.”

The CEO asks, “Why 4 percent?”

“Uh, well, because that’s what the consultant recommended, and we’ve used this consultant for the past five years.”

“I get that,” says the CEO, “but why 4 percent?”

And the head of HR swallows hard and says, “Because the consultant thinks 5 percent is too high and 3 percent is too low.”

Believe me, even if that conversation seems a bit silly, it’s pretty darn close to what’s happening within a lot of companies. And what they need to understand is that the HR leader doesn’t want to give such a vague answer—rather, the HR leader simply lacks the business insights and data-driven analysis to offer a more precise and relevant response.

Remember, in most big companies, compensation and benefits are the single biggest expense in the entire cost structure—by far! For company XYZ, we said its compensation costs are about $10 billion—so the 4 percent raise would equate to a new cost to the company of $400 million. That’s a significant cost to the business. Yet, the HR leader doesn’t have the modern technology necessary to make an insightful and business-driven decision on whether or not that level of spend is correct or will have the desired outcome on the business!

In the “after” scenario, an HR leader equipped with a modern HCM system could have answered that question about raises very differently by saying, “Let’s step back one second and look at the overall situation that will eventually include what type of raise pool we want for next year.

“Our attrition rate for the past 18 months has been 10 percent, which means we had to replace 10,000 people this year. But because of our rapid growth, we also had to hire an additional 4,000 people to handle that growth and sustain our momentum. So this year, we had to add 14,000 new people.

“And I’m pleased to be able to tell you that with our new recruitment and onboarding system, we were able to bring on 14,000 terrific new people—more on that in a moment—and with our new talent management system, we were able to create more than 1,500 growth opportunities for our brightest people. All in one year.

“On top of that, our performance management system tells us that those 14,000 new employees are not only costing us less than average—they come in at a cumulative 93 percent of midpoint—but more than two-thirds of them are performing in the top 20 percent quintile. We’re bringing in better performers while spending less money—and because of that, I’d like to recommend that we completely rethink our old concepts of ‘annual raises’ and use our data-driven analytics to find a better way.”

Hey, it sounds great—but that type of insight simply will not come to pass if HR leaders are left behind with an old, brittle, and incompatible hodgepodge of inflexible systems that make it impossible for the HR to deliver quantitative insights, forward-looking analyses, and revenue-driving decisions.

Those insights are absolutely essential for companies to be able to unleash the full potential of their people and begin to deliver employee experiences that parallel the terrific new customer experiences that today’s business environment demands: socially driven, optimized for mobile, and seamlessly consistent across smartphones, tablets, and PCs.

As an example of great business leadership and HCM strategy, let me mention what our friends at British Telecom (BT) are doing. One of the world leaders in communications services and solutions, BT has just decided to install a full suite of Oracle HCM Cloud applications to support the company’s growth agenda and help deliver its business strategy to more than 87,000 employees in 170 countries.

BT believes that its new HCM applications – with everything from recruiting and talent management to workforce-deployment optimization – will help the company increase productivity, accelerate business performance, and empower its people to innovate, grow, and delight customers.

Yes, those are lofty ambitions, but they’re also essential in today’s consumer-driven global marketplace where social-mobile lifestyles are disrupting not only how people shop and consume, but also their decisions about where they’ll work and why they’ll work there.

So it’s up to the CEO to drive HR transformation and help HR leaders become business-centric and data-driven enablers of revenue, innovation, and superb employee experiences.Posted by:Mark V. Hurd

Conquering The Enemies of Innovation: Silence and Fear

by David K. Williams and Mary Michelle Scott 

What's the biggest impediment to innovation within an organization? Fear.

As early as 2004, research from Elizabeth Wolf Morrison and Frances J. Milliken for the Academy of Management Review and Stern Business pegged fear — and the resulting silence when employees operate within a culture of fear — as the biggest roadblock to innovation.


A recent survey by the Robert Half Group confirms that in 2012, the problem remains. What makes employees afraid?

In their survey, employees cite the following issues:

1. Fear of making a mistake tops the list (cited by 30%)
2. Fear of getting fired. In fact, not only the fear of getting fired outright, but the fear of appearing less dedicated or vital if they actually take earned vacation days is a big issue in a slow economy. The data shows employees left an average of 11 vacation days untaken in 2011.
3. Fear of dealing with difficult customers or clients
4. Fear of conflict with a manager
5. Fear of speaking in front of a group
6. Fear of disagreements with co-workers

Only 3% of employees consider themselves "fearless." We shouldn't be surprised that their innovation is gone.

What can we do to turn this deadly equation around? Open communication is critical to ending organizational fear. As Morrison and Milliken note, in a fearful environment, front-line employees are unwilling to share because they are afraid somebody will "kill the messenger." Genuine communication happens only behind closed door or in whispers, and outward communication becomes shallow or disappears.

Without a healthy feedback loop, the organization loses the focus required for problem solving efforts and innovative new developments and productivity gains.

How can we help employees to conquer their fears, and to bring their innovation forward? We suggest the following three steps:

1. We must learn to truly trust our employees. We must trust their inherent powers and strengths. We must trust them to find and deliver their finest nature, which is only possible if leaders regard and treat their employees as fully creative and capable people. We must trust them to care about each other, and about their customers. In Overcoming Worry and Fear, psychologist and author Paul A. Hauck points out that genuine trust is beyond empowerment. When leadership thinks in terms of "giving power," to employees, they are giving employees something they (and employees) inherently know that they also have the power to take back. A leader who genuinely trusts their people believes and communicates that employees already have all of the power they need within them, and communicates that he or she trusts them to use their power honorably and well.

2. We must rely on principles, not policies, to govern our decisions and acts. Instead of managing employees through policies and rules, consider the possibility of agreeing on guiding principles instead. For us, the principles are our 7 Non Negotiables: Respect, Belief, Trust, Loyalty, Courage, Gratitude and Commitment. By adhering to these foundational traits, employees can govern their own decisions without manager oversight or performance appraisals. More importantly, they are no longer fearful about the possibility they will make a mistake.

3. Employees must experiment before they create. A fearful employee can never experiment. In an environment of trust, however, individuals and teams thrive on the opportunity to create and try new approaches. They understand the opportunities that can only come from mistakes. Interestingly, Amazon's Jeff Bezos--Fortune Magazine's 2012 Businessman of the Year--has noted that organizations weaken themselves most through sins of omission, primarily their failure to experiment. Why do they not experiment? Yet again, the fear of making mistakes. Experiments--and failures--are vital (and along with obsessive dedication to customer support are the single biggest cause, he says, of Amazon's world-changing success.)

In summary, employees who feel supported and appreciated will feel sufficiently secure to devote their full energy, creativity and passion to the company and its goals. They will naturally innovate in every area within their influence.

We must move away from work environments that are based on command and control. We must eliminate fear for innovation to truly occur. If you are willing to take this challenge, the changes you see will astound you.

More blog posts by David K. Williams and Mary Michelle Scott

6 Ways To Be A More Courageous Leader

Progress requires courage--but unfortunately, many leaders lack it. Here are simple tips that will help you make tough decisions with confidence.

 

By: Brad Lomenick 

 

I have great respect for professional baseball players; they are anything but wimpy. To stand in front of home plate with a ball heading toward your head at 95 miles per hour with nothing but a piece of wood to bat it away takes guts.

Life and leadership are a lot like baseball. Even the best batters strike out sometimes. But a true athlete, and courageous leaders, can never run away from the pitch.

I may not play baseball, but I do snow ski, and the analogy is much the same. The first time I faced the challenge of a mogul run on a black diamond slope that was steep and overwhelming, it was tough for me to muster the energy to get down the mountain. While gazing over the steep side from the top of the run, my friend’s advice was, “Point your skis down the hill and keep your nose over your tips. You have to lean forward and over your ski tips. Even when you are overcome with fright, maintain a posture of nose over tips, rather than leaning back.” In other words: Lean back and you fall.

This is not only great advice for skiing steep slopes but also good advice for leadership. As a leader, you sit atop the mountain. You have no choice but to face the slopes. You can lean back, coast, and play it safe, snowplowing your way painfully back and forth across the mountain, or you can point your skis down the hill, nose over the tips, and dominate the run. Being a courageous leader requires you to push beyond the norm, be willing to take risks and quit being a wimp.

Courage is not an individual trait but an organizational one. It’s a natural instinct that all leaders confront fear of failure and fear of the unknown. But living in that fear is destructive for a team and will kill momentum.

Courage is not waiting for your fear to go away; it is confronting your fear head-on.
Through working with young leaders around the nation, I have found six essentials that can help build a culture of courage in an organization:

1. Set scary standards. Your level of excellence and expectation for your product, service, or experience should be something that is nearly unattainable. Safe goals are set by safe leaders with safe visions. Give your people a goal that scares them, and you’ll produce leaders who know what it means to overcome fear.

2. Allow for failure. The road to success is many times paved through multiple failures. Allow for and even encourage your team to fail as they attempt to succeed.

3. Make decisions. Don’t let ideas, strategy, communication, and important organizational markers sit idly by on the side without saying yes or no. Leaders are decision makers, and must do it constantly.

4. Reward innovation. Innovation requires taking risks. And bold risks create bold team members. Rewarding innovation will challenge your team to grow in their roles.

5. Pursue the right opportunities. Not every risk is a good one. Be disciplined. Aggressively pursue a few things that make sense. Say no to things that don't--even if it means saying no more often than you're comfortable.

6. Learn to delegate. This is one of the most courageous things a leader can do. Entrusting others with important tasks requires letting go and relinquishing control. Liberally pass responsibility and authority to your team. If you want your team to be courageous, give them the chance to lead. Early and often.

These elements aren’t easy to nurture in a corporate setting. You and your colleagues will likely resist it at every turn. As G.K. Chesterton said, “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of readiness to die.” Courage mingles our desire to rush forward with a willingness to accept the possibility of being stopped in our tracks.

Yet if you desire to be a leader who changes the world, you have no choice but to exhibit courage on a constant basis.

The good news is that unlike some leadership traits, courage is not inborn; it’s learned. The natural response is to run from what frightens us, but life’s greatest leaps occur when we resist this impulse.

Remember when you were completely fearless as a kid? Children often demonstrate courage naturally. Most of us can think back to times as a child when we stepped out in courage. Whether riding a bike without training wheels, jumping into the deep end of the pool, or letting go of the rails to ice-skate without assistance, life teaches us that progress requires courage. We have to be willing to get out to the edge, look at what is in the front of us, summon up the fortitude, and jump.

The jump may be risky, but the decision to stay where you are is even more so.

--Brad Lomenick is president of Catalyst, one of America’s most influential leadership movements, and author of The Catalyst Leader: 8 Essentials to Becoming a Change Maker. Follow him at @BradLomenick or www.bradlomenick.com.