7 Ways to Enable Boldness
Insecure people are conformists. Doubt produces caution.
It’s easy to manage insecure people.
- Post rules.
- Limit choices.
- Tweak work.
- Honor conformity.
- Punish initiative.
Do you really want to enable boldness? Bold people resist being managed. Do you want people solving problems on their own or acting without permission?
Decide if you prefer control or boldness.
7 ways to enable boldness:
#1. Respect.
You get what you respect.
Honor effort, growth, improvement, and progress.
Enable boldness by honoring risk-taking. When you punish initiative, you earn stagnation.
Enable performance with respect. High performance requires…
- Confidence.
- Power.
- Energy.
Helplessness shows up as…
- Anxiety.
- Resentment.
- Fatigue.
#2. Explore.
Today is a beautiful day to ask, “What do you think?” Or “How would you handle this?”
Set a goal and ask, “What does forward movement look like from your perspective?”
#3. Release.
Hoop-jumping drains. Trust instills confidence.
- Choose goals.
- Set boundaries.
- Enable growth and development.
- Get out of the way.
#4. Equip.
Encourage improvement so you won’t have to over-see.
Fearful leaders prefer weak teams.
Enable through development. Trust competent people.
#5. Reveal.
Transparency empowers because it invites people in.
- Show your humanity.
- Keep people in the loop.
- Let out joy. It takes more courage to share joy than to complain.
#6. Challenge.
High expectations tell people you believe in them.
Low expectations are subtle forms of rejection that say you’re incompetent.
Balance challenge with support by monitoring energy. When frustration goes up, challenge may be too high. When boredom sets in, support is destructive.
#7. Own.
Own your mistakes. Blame disempowers. Don’t beat yourself down. Own mistakes with confidence.
- Explain what you’ll do next time.
- Share things you’re learning. (We are always learning. You haven’t mastered anything.)
- Apologize, but don’t belittle yourself.
Your ownership empowers responsibility-taking in others – when you practice mutual accountability.
What leadership behaviors enable boldness?
What leadership behaviors elevate anxiety?
Still curious:
4 Principles of Responsible Boldness
Four Ways to Create Unflinching Boldness
How Bold Leadership Can Help Or Hurt You
Good points, Dan.
Building people’s confidence and supporting their risk-taking builds boldness. But be careful not to create overly confident people who often end-up making bad decisions.
Micromanagement, critical comments, and putting people through the hoops (your words) creates anxiety.
Thanks, Paul. Overconfidence is dangerous. I do remember a study that a little overconfidence enables us to take risks. Now if we can just find that perfect point..
Speaking of bad decisions, people need an organizational perspective to make good personal decisions for their own performance and career. A narrow perspective can be defeating.
How would an arrival at ‘perfection’ be recognized? Most likely, if perfection could be achieved, it’d be somewhere the other side of a string of failed attempts to achieve one or more goals.
There is an old saying in the Royal Air Force: “There are old pilots, and bold pilots, but very few old, bold pilots…”
Great point, Mitch. Boldness when flying airplanes and doing brain surgery is dangerous. Choose your boldness wisely.
This is great! I have a few team members that I would love to see work more boldly! I struggle with how to enable / motivate them. I am naturally motivated to seek out answers and solutions – but not everyone is. For some, it’s a learned skill. What are tips for helping people build that skill? Especially if they are more introverted or insecure?
Thanks for adding your aspiration to the conversation, SB.
We can’t make people be bold. We can create environments where boldness is more likely. We can engage in conversations that make boldness more likely.
Here’s a thought to encourage people to seek solutions. The first question to ask when someone comes with an issue is, “What have you tried?” Set an expectation that people are working through problems.
When they were waiting for permission or haven’t tried anything, ask, “If you didn’t need permission, what would you do next?” You might need to remind people to reflect on organizational mission, vision, and values.
You could read, Turn the Ship Around, by David Marquet (https://amzn.to/3T7kO9x). He was Captain of a nuclear attack submarine. He taught his crew to come with, “I intend to.” Don’t wait for permission, state your intention. Teach people to say, “I intend to.”
The nuclear attack submarine with the worst record in the fleet when he took over and made it the best. Excellent book!