Courage: An Emerging HR Agenda (Why), Mindset (What), and Skill Set (How) to Increase Contribution

HR faces ever-evolving inflection points to deliver more stakeholder value to all humans who interact with the organization through human capability. In the last few months, we have worked with an amazing advisory board of thought leaders and others to identify the ideas, tools, and competencies to address at the Global HR Leadership Experience (GHRLE) to develop the next generation of HR leaders.

In the last two weeks, I have had the privilege of attending and facilitating workshops with over one hundred senior HR leaders (Fellows in NAHR, sitting CHROs, and members of The RBL Institute). As I listened to wonderful presentations and reports on evolving HR impact, a simple message came through: courage. 

Agenda: Why Courage

Courage is a timeless topic. Philosophers (e.g., Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, C.S. Lewis) equated courage with confidence, overcoming fear, wisdom, justice, and virtue. Greek  (Zeus and Athena) and Roman (Mars and Hercules) gods idolized and embodied courage.

 Courage is also a timely societal topic showing up in political, economic, social, religious, family, and daily living settings. In HR, personal courage has been important for some time. In 1998, Bob Eichinger and I published “Delivering HR with an attitude” that suggested HR could increase impact through courage (risk taking, power, and influence). We further defined and explored the competency of credible activist, which combines trust and courage.

 Today’s onslaught of environmental disruptions focuses even more attention on innovative human capability insights (ideas, research, and practices) that have been highlighted as primary HR agendas (figure 1).

While a consensus has begun to emerge around these agendas, without personal courage, they will remain aspirational agendas without sustainable impact. HR professionals with courage:

• Overcome fear with realistic confidence.
• Turn what they know should be done into what is done.
• Challenge the status quo to create a better future.
• Take risks and act even without complete knowledge of consequences.
• Turn personal and organization values into daily behaviors.
• Become credible by building trust.

Courage differentiates HR professionals (and others) as those who deliver value to others.

Mindset: What Courage Means

Courage is a mindset that influences the competencies of HR (and business) leaders.

Synonyms for courage capture many ways of thinking about courage (figure 2). HR leaders (and others) can ask themselves: “How many of these qualities do I (or others) possess?”

To illustrate what courage means for HR leaders, let me suggest how courage enables each of the consistent and accepted six domains of HR competence (figure 3) with examples of courageous HR actions for each domain (figure 4).

Skill Set: How to Demonstrate Courage

When the mindset of courage translates to specific skills, courageous actions become a pattern, not isolated events. The following seven skills of courage revolve around navigating paradoxes and can be learned with practice. Paradox navigation means that a courageous leader recognizes alternative ways (elements) to accomplish work, learns how to do either element, and has the judgment to know when to do which.

1. Take informed risks and practice restraint. Taking heightened risk on people, processes, and patterns takes courage. Knowing when to be patient, which battles to fight, and the right timing to act also takes courage. Courageous leaders develop risk assessment skills to know when to do which.
2. Challenge and confirm. Courageous leaders challenge the past and present to create a different future. They slay “sacred cows” or remove outdated processes. They disagree without being disagreeable. They also confirm what has been done well that can be built on for the future. They have mastered presenting ideas that may require new thinking and acting.
3. Move quickly (boldly) and cautiously (patiently). Courageous leaders know when to boldly move to overcome lingering problems. They run into and solve problems. They also know when to be patient and let time pass before acting.
4. Rely on empirical data and intuitive instinct. Courageous leaders rely on information to make better decisions. Sometimes that information comes from analytics and statistics; and at other times, it comes from trusting instincts or gut feel.
5. Be vulnerable and confident. Courageous leaders recognize, own, share, and learn from mistakes. They admit not knowing all the answers. At the same time, they instill confidence by being willing to act, learn, and move ahead.
6. Listen with curiosity and talk with clarity. Courageous leaders listen carefully to others so that they feel understood. They ask tough questions that probe underlying symptoms. They also talk clearly so others know what they believe and what is expected. They often say the unspoken truths that need to be shared.
7. Express appreciation and suggest improvements. Courageous leaders make others feel better about themselves by being positive and showing empathy. They also offer specific ways to improve by focusing on problems and not people.

 See figure 5 for a self-assessment of these courage skills.

Conclusion

As HR leaders master these skills, they become better partners who help make the right things happen. With the right focus (on creating value for others) and courage (practicing the seven skills), HR leaders become contributing partners. As they model courage, they can help others acquire it.

Dave Ulrich is the Rensis Likert Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and a partner at The RBL Group, a consulting firm focused on helping organizations and leaders deliver value.