Standing in the lion’s roar. Leading with courage.

Have you ever experienced standing close to a roaring lion?

If you have, you might never forget this mighty sound; generating instant fear.

When faced with fear, a survival instinct generates the automatic mechanism, shaped by millions of years of evolution we all know about: fight-flight-freeze.

That protective reaction making us double check that there is enough distance between us and the roaring king, get ready to defend ourself or escape. We can all relate to this natural response to stressful situations.

Now, let’s leave our ancestors, the lion and its savannah, for a moment.

Fast forward to 2024, in a business setting.

While our survival instincts can still serve us well, when we encounter something dangerous, it does, more often than we think, show up in the wrong context, the corporate environment, sabotaging individual, team and company growth.

As we know, the ideal leader listens to colleagues, communicates with respect and honesty, adjusts opinions when confronted with new evidence, and makes decisions with the aim to strengthen the organization.

But what happens when corporate challenges push executives in the opposite direction, as they experience, real or perceived, threats?

Here are some common fears faced by executives:

• Being found incompetent.?
• Underachieving. Failing.
• Appearing too vulnerable or foolish.
• Being politically attacked by coworkers.?

When leaders are leading from a place of fear and its dear companion, stress, they undermine their own performance, as they enter into survival mode:

• Fight: Display impulse based reactions, instead of smart, thought through responses.
• Flight: Avoid communicating, procrastinate, hide from the situation they are afraid to face, instead of resolving the issue.
• Freeze: Don't embrace change and opportunities. Often occurring when they question their competence, hence perceiving themselves as incapable of handling the situation. For leaders, hesitation is fine; paralysis is not.

The fact is, fear does hinder effective leadership.

A major challenge is that leaders often have no idea how to overcome their fears and more commonly, are not even aware that dread is what is driving them. Regardless of what fear looks like for you, if it is present, it is holding you back from achieving your highest potential.

Clients who reach out to us, are coming from diverse corporate and cultural backgrounds, but they all have key elements in common: They have a high potential and they realize that they need help to maximize it.

With our support, they learn that another type of response to fear exists:

It is to stand. Stand courageously in the lion’s roar.

Here are some of the steps guiding the journey we take together, through the multifaceted landscape of growth.

1)??? Beware of “quick fix”

One of the pitfalls when working on improving leadership competencies, is adopting a “quick fix” approach. You learn that you should not do this, you should do that instead, and you directly try applying those recommendations. The problem with this approach is that you are trying to change a behavior, without understanding what is triggering it. That rarely works in the long term.

When you develop self-awareness, you get a better understanding of the Why you do things in a certain way. Being aware of your triggers empowers you to make a choice on how to respond.

2)??? Develop self-awareness

Look inward. Define what is causing you fear. Acknowledge that it exists and is holding you back from achieving your greatest potential. Sometimes the roar is so loud that it creates confusion. Get specific on listing out fears, so you can efficiently strategize on how to address them.

3)??? Change “the?story?you tell yourself” by practicing Powerful Questioning

Either by yourself or with our coaching support, answer this type of question:

What is the reality of the situation you are in? Where did that thought come from? What is your go to reaction when faced with a challenge? Does this approach serve your objectives? What does it look like to lead from a mindset of "courage" versus “fear”?

4)??? Make peace with being a target

If you decide to be a leader, accept to be a target: If you are a great leader, you will be the target of people’s hopes and admiration. If you are a “bad” leader, you will be the target of people’s disappointment and blame. In any cases, you will be a target. Learn to embrace it.

5)??? Practice self-compassion, without feeling guilty

Show yourself compassion, as you would do for a dear friend.

Transformation and growth can be hard. It can feel so overwhelming that you start doubting yourself, not seeing where you are achieving progress. Self-compassion is a necessary ally, and no, it does not mean being complacent.

It is about being kind to yourself, allowing the trust and patience necessary for the growth process to take place.

6)??? Find your safe space to grow and develop courage

We sometimes forget how much courage it takes to work on ourself and particularly our leadership style. Growth also takes accepting to be vulnerable, which is a delicate exercise requiring psychological safety.

Work with the right coach, who will be holding a safe space where issues can be fully explored, without fear of judgement, to produce a richness and depth of insights.

By experiencing this psychological safety yourself, you will be empowered, as a leader, to role model the way to creating safety and trust in your own team.

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Talking about vulnerability, allow me the opportunity to me make a confession.

As Team coaches, we are not spared from the potential bias of fear. In organizational relationship systems coaching (ORSC?), we talk about coaching from the lion’s roar.

When facilitating a difficult workshop, where the team is in conflict or a participant is venting for example, we must stand in the uncomfortable. Standing boldly in the midst of complexities, demonstrating unwavering courage and presence, are key factors for a successful team coaching. It is about being fully present, in service of the group, even in the face of messiness or uncertainty. We stand firm, without judgment or reactive emotion, holding space for the Collective Intelligence to arise.

It is a complex profession, and we love it.

The beauty of our work is that in addition to supporting executives, we also help teenagers and young adults set the early foundation of their own leadership skills at Diamonds Youth . By fostering their self-awareness, healthy coping strategies and skills, we help our young clients, starting as early as 13 years old, learn how to led themself, in order to better lead their future teams. ?ISN'T THAT AMAZING?!

As we come to the end of this newsletter, which we hope you enjoyed reading, we would like to leave you with some food for thoughts:?

-?????? Where do you need to stand courageously?

-?????? What fears are holding you back or impacting your leadership style?

-?????? Imagine if you led fearlessly every day. How much more could you achieve?

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All the best,

Carine