Courage at work

Courage has a greater impact on our working lives than first meets the eye. There is, perhaps, an argument that workplaces shouldn’t be places that demand courage; that we should be able to approach our best work without any element of fear, or any requirement for bravery.

While this is true to the extent that fear of the work itself suggests it probably isn’t our best work, that isn’t to say that doing good work doesn’t inherently demand courage. Finding work is a challenging, competitive endeavour. We have a desire to succeed, and an inverse fear of failure, hard-wired (or, perhaps, trained) into us. Many people’s work involves making difficult decisions with far-reaching consequences. We also, unavoidably, find ourselves comparing ourselves to peers at work, and consequently facing the (usually unfounded) fear that our own abilities are insufficient.

Work, particularly our best work, exposes all these potential stress points, and cultivating the skill of courage in the workplace is therefore a key element of finding, and performing, our best work.

Finding courage when finding work

Lorena, a Project Manager, drew on her reserves of courage when searching for work. Finding her next role was such a clearly-defined objective, one that she “fought” for bravely and single-mindedly.

The language Lorena uses here is typical, and it highlights some (regrettable) aspects of searching for work. For example, using the language of “fighting” highlights the fact that finding work is a struggle. It is competitive, and it isn’t uncommon to feel as though we are taking on the world when we search for work. That requires bravery.

Searching for work also forces us to contemplate the consequences of not having any. For all but the wealthiest people in society, these could be severe. Most people depend on work for the income that puts a roof over their heads and food in their mouths. The idea of not having this is a scary thought.

Besides the material ramifications of failing to secure work, there is also the personal element. In an age where work and identity are tied closely together, it is understandable to worry about the social implications of being unable to find work.

For these reasons, our fear of the job searching process is tied in closely to our fear of failure.

Fear of failure

Failure is so loaded a word and concept that it’s almost impossible to discuss it in anything but negative terms. So ingrained in us is the fear of failure that, as CEO and Founder Juan explains, it is counter-intuitive to consider failure as a positive, important learning tool.

Juan doesn’t perceive the fear of failure as something natural, but rather as something that results from our upbringing. Indeed, readers in the US might not recognise the concept, if CEO and Founder Ben’s experience is accurate.

Clearly, one way or another, the fear of failure is socially constructed. Very few failures are fatal; the vast majority which don’t kill us will, to borrow a phrase, make us stronger.

Overcoming the fear of failure is not straightforward. It involves unthinking a mindset which has, in many cases, been drilled into us since birth. However, if we can reframe our understanding of failure such that it is just one other part of the learning experience, and therefore something we ought not just avoid, but actively seek out, we automatically equip ourselves with courage. This flows into how we approach a job search, and indeed the decisions we make at work.

Bold decisions

One of the most common ways in which the language of courage seeps into our everyday language surrounding work is in discussion of decision-making. Specifically, the phrase “bold decisions.” Few managers worth their salt haven’t taken many of these in their time.

It follows that courage is required in order to make these decisions and, from there, that such decisions are scary to begin with. This stems from the fear of failure; in this instance, the fear is that a poor decision will lead us to fail, with all the resultant negative consequences.

CEO and co-founder Nick here discusses the approach that he and his brother take towards big, scary decisions.

This kind of blanket confidence doesn’t come naturally to everyone. It is a skill in its own right, but like any skill, it is one that can be developed, especially by starting small and gradually building up the approach by applying it to larger, more complex problems.

This kind of confidence is also, in many respects, the direct opposite of one of workplace fear’s other great manifestations; imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome

There is a more detailed discussion of imposter syndrome here. Even that article barely scratches the surface of an immensely complex phenomenon. From the perspective of workplace courage, however, we can consider imposter syndrome as the fear that other people have overestimated our abilities (and that we’ll soon be “found out”).

This fear tends to come about from superficial exposure to other people’s ability. From a distance, everyone else looks more in control of their work than we ourselves often feel over ours. As Founder and CEO George explains, however, this is rarely the case upon closer inspection.

This isn’t to say that imposter syndrome is a false belief, or to fall into the trap of pathologising perfectly rational responses to workplaces which all too often don’t contain (for example) female or minority ethnic role models. It is, however, reflective of the fact that the gap between our abilities and someone else’s is rarely as wide in reality as it is in our perception. Gaining a closer understanding of the other person - especially, for example, through shadowing them or asking them to act as a mentor - can quickly equip us with the confidence and courage we previously attributed, rightly or wrongly, to them.

While our best work should not provoke fear for its own sake, the pursuit and performance of worthwhile work is inevitably full of scenarios which require an element of courage. A confident attitude goes a long way towards overcoming the majority of these, and while this is something that comes more naturally to some than others, it is a skill which everyone has the potential to develop for themselves.