The Leadership Gap by Lolly Daskal

Author:Lolly Daskal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-04-20T13:11:40+00:00

Leveraging the Bystander Within

And thou shalt never, but never be a bystander.

—Yehuda Bauer

Leaders do not become true leaders until they can learn to manage their fears in the face of difficulties and challenges. True leaders have worked diligently and with great effort to go beyond what they fear and to rethink what they know, so they can discover within themselves a depth of their own fearlessness—the person who is ready to be courageous like never before.

If you want your people to be courageous (and you do), then you as a leader need to rethink your organization’s culture and ask yourself if it supports and encourages acts of courage, both great and small.

To have a culture that is courageous, you have to find the hero within. It’s the hero who takes back control from fear. The hero says, “I will find the courage to do what I know I am capable of, even though I don’t yet know how.”

To find the hero within, you have to make it safe for people to be courageous by cushioning their fall. You do that by allowing people to be themselves. Because when you make it safe for people to be themselves, you make it safe for them to take chances and to take risks. In a culture where safety resides, everyone flourishes. When people feel safe, they risk big, and when they don’t feel safe, they avoid doing anything that might point the finger of blame on them if they make a mistake or fail. The safer your people feel, the more your business will achieve as the climate of fear evaporates.

To leverage your inner bystander . . .

When you see something, do something. Bystanders have a knack of not wanting to get involved, but as someone who is looking to be brave, courageous, and fearless, make a point of intervening as soon as you even think there may be a problem. Don’t brush it off as “this is how it always is.” If you hear disrespect, say something; if you see misconduct, do something. All questionable behavior should be addressed immediately to keep a situation from escalating. Your purpose is not to watch things pass you by; your purpose is to see something and do something about it.

Implement an intervention for yourself. How many times have you said to yourself, “It is what it is”? It is your job to stop idly standing by as your day-to-day life continues not to be the way you want it to be. Instead of playing the bystander role, put a plan in motion to change what needs to be changed in order for you to be happy and successful.

End your own passivity. You are in control of your own life and your own happiness to a huge extent. If success is going to find you, you have to be brave and assertive now—not tomorrow, later, next week, or next month. Your bravery, fearlessness, and courage have to start today—you cannot just stand by and wish for it to happen.

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