Managerial Courage: A Value That Brings Meaning and Efficiency
08 February, 2020
By Rudy Chedembrum, FSC Group (France)
Resilience, stress management, assertiveness: so many qualities are put into the spotlight and sought after during recruitments. But nothing about managerial courage. However, it turns out to be key for managers, indispensable for advancing the business and essential for maintaining healthy human relationships.
Courage, synonymous with firmness and strength of character, allows us to face danger, suffering, setbacks, difficult circumstances. If this definition of Larousse seems to correspond to an ideal, it seems far removed from the managerial world. “Who has never heard that a lack of business decision-making is a source of stress, frustration and even depression?
Auriane de Potesta, Associate Director at Monceau Carrières wonders. Managerial courage is precisely going to the front, acting and facing reality. “It’s also about being able to defend the interests of your team, to move forward, get involved and roll up your sleeves. In other words, assume your responsibilities and above all, stay congruent between your words and your actions. At a time of mergers and acquisitions and digital transformations, courage appears as a cardinal virtue that transparently promotes effective change.
Get out of your comfort zone
This “fortitude” according to Plato is to say and do what seems most right. “Courage means stepping out of your comfort zone,” says Auriane de Potesta. The manager perceives the risk; he is tempted to deviate from it, and finally confronts it, by going beyond his own reluctance. Managerial courage illuminates what is confused; resolves the underlying issues; smooths what is twisted; unties what is knotted.
In a world of conflicting stakeholders, organizational transformation, and the imperative of performance, the manager often isn’t in a comfortable place. How to explain to your team that a project is put on stand-by when all the employees are 100% committed to it? How to announce reorganizational changes knowing that we will trigger anger or frustration?
“Managerial courage is at the heart of leadership,” says Auriane de Potesta. Our mission as a coach is to promote this value within companies. We help managers cultivate this quiet strength, so that they learn to deal effectively with the challenges they will face. We also take care to stimulate initiative and decision-making. We are here to challenge them in their role and get them to question themselves! “