In our last partnership blog, we explored the three critical elements necessary to design and manage an effective partnership: Mindset, skillset and toolset. I want to add a fourth – COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP. Courage is an essential partnership element AND a core partnership value! It is not about the absence of fear, it is about taking the action you need to take, even though you may be afraid and feel uncertain.
The word courage comes from the Latin word for “heart”. And, just as your heart pumps blood to your arms and legs and brain, your COURAGE pumps energy to the other three essential elements of effective partnerships – mindset, skillset and toolset and the four core partnership principles – diversity, equity, openness and mutual benefit.
Why is courageous leadership needed in partnerships? Partnerships require living with uncertainty, even fear about how it will work - and that can be paralyzing. The reality is, if we don’t have the courage to actually bring partnerships to life when it matters most, you’ll get stuck in theory land.
So, can you find courage within yourself and your organization to try; to build the bridge while you walk on it.; to work and live with ambiguity? Partnership needs courage to ask questions, to be curious, and not to fear new solutions. To work differently in consultation, to regard setbacks as iterations rather than failures. To push on with your experimentation to create bigger, more expansive outcomes.
Partnership requires the courage to stretch yourself and challenge your assumptions. To move beyond simple narratives and solutions, thereby embracing the partnership idea for richer and deeper results than you ever thought possible.
That’s why courageous leadership is our fourth and final cardinal touchstones in designing and managing an effective partnership.
So how is your partnership courage?
Rollo May in his book The Courage to Create[1] defines courage as having two parts. First, a “willingness to take action.” Second, an “ability to control fear.”
He puts them together to create the Courage Quotient:
Willingness to act
Courage quotient = ———————————
Fear
f your willingness to act is a 10 and you can drive your fear down to 1, you’d have a Courage Quotient of 10. If, on the other hand, your willingness to act was a 1 and your fear was a 10, you’d have a Courage Quotient of 1/10th.
Where do you think YOU land? What’s working? What needs a little work? What could you do TODAY to strengthen your courage quotient?
At a moment of decision today, remember that your courage is vitalizing all your other partnership elements. See if you can step forward into growth rather than back into safety.
Next Blog: Introducing the Partnership Compass