Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ – 3rd edition
Welcome!
This is the third edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: 5 minutes
In our last newsletter, we introduced the Courageous Leader BLUEprint™.
It’s much more than the name of this newsletter series – it’s your framework for courageous leadership.
The “B” stands for Be Bold.
In order to Be Bold, we must choose integrity.
This is the courage to do what’s right, even when it’s costly.
Unfortunately, too many leaders face external threats to their integrity, such as:
Pressures from the organization to cut ethical corners or risk not being seen as a “team player”
Systems that reward short-term wins over long-term values
Toxic cultures that lack ethical accountability
Leaders can also face internal threats to their integrity:
Fear of losing status, income, or approval
Ego or insecurity – the desire to be in control, be liked, or appear successful
Rationalization…“everyone is doing it” or “it’s not that big of a deal”
Fatigue – when we’re tired or burned out, sometimes it seems easier to take the quick win
When leaders succumb to external or internal threats, the long-term cost is a loss of the trust they’ve built and their reputation.
There may be short-term costs for choosing integrity.
In the short term, they may lose status, relationships, or, in extreme cases, even their job.
Sometimes, these are very difficult choices.
However, at Blue Lion Leadership, we believe in integrity so much that it is one of our three core values.
As leaders, our character is always being evaluated.
It’s important to remember that the people we lead are always watching what we do. They pay much more attention to what we say and do than we sometimes give them credit for.
The tip here is simple, but not always easy:
Do what you say you will do. And always do the right thing.
One practical way to Be Bold as a leader and lead with integrity is to intentionally coach the people you lead.
Believe it or not, many leaders fail to recognize coaching opportunities – even though they are everywhere!
Some wait until the mandatory annual performance evaluation to discuss goals and progress—this is not leadership. Really, it’s not even good management.
As a leader, you are responsible for helping your team members continuously grow.
In the book “Drive”, Daniel Pink popularized the prevailing research around motivation, noting that beyond adequate compensation, intrinsically motivated people have three key needs:
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
As a coach, you can help people develop autonomy by empowering them to use their own critical thinking skills.
For example, when your team members come to you looking for an answer, do you just give them the answer, or do you ask questions like:
“How might you approach this?”
“What could be the potential alternatives?”
And my personal favorite – “If you knew the right answer, what would it be?”
When it comes to mastery, as a leader, it’s a good reminder that you are responsible for helping your team members continuously build their skills.
Everyone has a gap between where they currently are skill-wise and where they could be (including you).
That gap is called potential.
And one of your roles as a leader is to help your team members reach their potential.
The great thing about potential is it isn’t a final destination. The process is continuous.
In our popular program Coaching for Improved Performance and Results*, one of my favorite quotes is: “A coach is someone who takes people to a level they did not think they could get to on their own.”
Do you know what skills your team members need to develop? What skills they want to develop?
When was the last time you asked them?
This could be as simple as “What is one area you’d like to strengthen?”
What would it look like to ask one of your team members today?
And last, but not least, purpose. As a coach, you can help your team members realize how their work connects to the larger mission of the organization.
You can ask them for their input on how and why what they do matters.
For example:
“How does this work align with your values?”
“How do you feel like you’re contributing to our mission?”
Coaching is not always about giving advice. It’s about asking the right questions.
For practical ideas, check out this PDF:
“The Courageous Leader Coaching Tips” [Download it here]
*Blue Lion Leadership is a Dallas-based distributor of Coaching for Improved Performance and Results
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