“Men don’t follow titles, they follow courage,” or so goes the old saying about good leaders.
It’s true that most leaders begin leading long before they’re granted a title, often because they’ve distinguished themselves by showing courage.
Have you done anything recently that distinguishes you as a leader? If you’re a natural leader you probably do something courageous every day –you just may not realize you’re doing it. This may be particularly true if you’ve had to work hard to develop your leadership skills.
Let’s look at leadership and courage. One of the behaviors that distinguishes leadership is the practice of challenging existing processes. Leaders are constantly seeking to improve their organizations and do so by challenging the status quo. This takes courage as most people don’t like change and resist challenges. Leaders will often stick their necks out and swim against the tide. Are you leading by challenging or do you follow the old adage: “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Effective leaders enable and empower their teams. It takes courage to relinquish power, step back and let others run the show. Ineffective leaders do the opposite, fearing criticism or loss of control. Strong leaders are about growth and moving forward; they know their organization will not grow unless their people get in the game and test their abilities in real-world situations.
True leaders will show courage in many ways, particularly when the going gets tough. Are you being courageous? Is your senior management team showing courage? To succeed, great leaders need great teams. And great leaders are never afraid to ask their teams for help.
Keith Johnston is a leadership coach with True North Leadership. He has built his approach to helping people achieve results using more than 30 years of consulting experience.
