Inspiring courage through change

One of my best friends from primary school recently posted a very insightful blog on the seven ways to inspire courage through change. A change maker, wellness junkie and a worker for happier, healthier teams, she has become one of my go-to gurus for inspiration into how to create, embody and be an exemplar for cultural change within organisations.

In her blog, she clarifies:

"Some people may think of bravery when we say the word courage. But don’t confuse the two. Bravery is the ability to face something that has the potential to harm us without any feeling of fear. It allows us to seem bigger than the crisis, whether we are more powerful than the situation or not. It is the absence of fear.

Courage, on the other hand, is very different. It is the ability to undertake an overwhelming difficulty despite the presence of fear. It is about stepping up, taking risks, moving towards something no matter how much you want to stay back and hide. It is about seeing past the negatives, even though you know they are there".

What leaders often fail to realise is that their people don’t need to be brave to face change. They need courage. There needs to be an acknowledgement that it is scary to go through change. It is particularly frightening facing the possibility of failure. But if leaders establish a culture where employees are inspired to be courageous, they not only engage employees, but they heighten their chances of succeeding in creating change.

Key to these are the following ingredients, which she talks about at length - and which I personally love because they are so fresh-faced and honest:

1. create an atmosphere of trust - nobody has all the answers

2. allowing employees to fail and celebrate the effort

3. understand what connects people to the cause

4. be a courageous example

5. create an atmosphere of trust - resilience is built through connection with others

6. create points of certainty

7. have fun!

She closes with the following statement: "Courage doesn’t eliminate fear, it answers it. After all, fear is an emotion and courage is a choice".

Have a read of the full blog, connect with her on social: @luisawing - well worth a follow