Juliet is an independent Organisation
Development Consultant and Coach with a particular interest in the role of
values in the choices we make as individuals and how we engage with others.
When asked
last August if I would be interested in writing some blogs for the Good
Project, saying ‘yes’ felt quite courageous (or mad!) as I had never written a
blog before. And I am curious that I
chose to write about courage – what do I know about that? At the time I was
getting over an accident and feeling rather vulnerable and fearful about the
future. Maybe I was looking for some courage myself, and because I also knew
the situation I found myself in was also an opportunity –to grow and to risk
doing something different in the future.
And then I realised
that courage was at the heart of my work on organisation and personal values,
including my own. The Latin root of the word values is ‘valor’, meaning
strength and bravery. “In understanding our values we equip ourselves with a
perennial source of motivation, focus and strength to achieve those things that
matter most to us” says Michael Henderson in Finding True North.
Our values
sit at the intersection of our experience of the outer world and our inner
world. We need head, heart and bravery to defeat our fears and achieve what we
are truly capable of. In the Wizard of Oz the Scarecrow, Tin man and Lion found
all three to defeat the Wicked Witch of the West, and discovered that they
already had these resources within themselves. What is it that prevents us all,
and our organisations achieving their full potential to be the ‘best we can
be’?
Our values
drive our behaviour and paradoxically, because they are largely unconscious, may
limit our choices and our potential. They inform our decision making and where
we put our energy. Our values determine the choices e make about what we ‘have’;
what we ‘do’ and ‘who we are’. As Maslow said, our values determine our ‘needs’
(food, shelter, physical health) and also for belonging and self-esteem. It may
be the fear of losing these that hold us back: ‘will I have enough money for the future?’;
‘will I make fool of myself? ‘will they like me?’; ‘will I fit in?’; ‘what if I
fail?’ How many of us postpone or trade off what we really want in life to be
‘safe’?
But our
values can also drive us forward. By having the courage to look at our fears
and our aspirations ‘in the eye’ we can begin to address that potential gap
referred to in Chandra McGowan’s excellent blog ‘the courage to be amazing’.
Try Jackie Le Fevre’s ‘braveometer’ to see how brave you are now and want to be
http://braverthanyouthink.co.uk/start.php. Chris Johnston has some good tips for finding
the courage we need in his book ‘Find your power’, to move from our comfort
zone, through resistance to the ‘world of our dreams’.
By limiting our own courage and potential we also limit
the courage and potential of others. The behaviour of leaders and managers
becomes the culture of organisations. How often do we see people protecting
themselves in case of blame; reinforcing practises they know need to change and
saying why things can’t be done. Staffordshire Hospital and Barclays Bank and
so many others. How long did it take for anyone to say ‘I got it wrong’ or to
blow the whistle on others, and with what awful consequences on people’s lives.
Instead, how would it be to be the ‘best possible organisation
on earth to work for?’ For three years Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones of London Business School
have been investigating this question by asking hundreds of executives in
surveys and in seminars all over the world to describe their ideal organisation.
They found six common imperatives. Together they describe an organisation that
operates at its fullest potential by allowing people to do their ‘best work’.
” In a
nutshell, it’s a company where individual differences are nurtured; information
is not suppressed or spun; the company adds value to employees, rather than
merely extracting it from them; the organization stands for something
meaningful; the work itself is intrinsically rewarding; and there are no stupid
rules. We call this “the organization of
your dreams” (Harvard Business Review). http://hbr.org/2013/05/creating-the-best-workplace-on-earth/ar/pr
At the heart of this dream organisation
are some principles including ‘let me be myself’ ‘discover and magnify my
strengths’ and ‘make my work meaningful’.
This to me feels like a yellow brick road
worth following – personally and for those people and organisations we work
with who are all striving to be the best they can be. I used to have a sticker
in the back of my car – ‘dare to dream’. Now there is a challenge……….
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