Recently, I have been thinking again about the following quote by Charles Swindoll:
“Courage is not limited to the battlefield or the Indianapolis 500 or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody's looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you're misunderstood.”
I think one of the greatest challenges for people in leadership and management positions is to realize that every day people all around them are being courageous and no one is noticing their actions. I know this because I have had the gift of listening to people share about their whole lives, not just their work lives. And when an individual chooses to be courageous, I have come to understand that there is always more to the story about what is happening.
For example, I was called in to coach a struggling executive who could not get her goals accomplished on time. Through active listening, I learned that she spent most nights supporting her daughter and her family because their child was recently diagnosed with cancer. She was exhausted, worried and distracted.
Another time, I worked with an executive who struggled to build and articulate a plan for his department. Again, by creating a safe space for listening and sharing, I learned that he was coping with an older child who had serious addiction challenges. As a result, he was having a hard time focusing at work because he was so worried about what was happening at home.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, people all around us are working through huge life challenges. Some have been created by COVID-19 and others have been happening for quite some time.
I think the challenge is that we have failed to notice these challenges. As R.D. Laing noted, “The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change, until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.”
Life is a journey and work is part of that journey. When we build healthy organizations, where there is minimal politics and confusion, a high degree of morale and productivity, and very low turnover among employees, then we create the opportunity for continual improvement, competitive advantage, and the foundation for great team work. And from this foundation, people can bring their whole self to work and support each other through life’s challenges, be they at work or at home.
At this time period, we can no longer fail to notice what is happening all around us. We need to support people who are being courageous, and to remember that there is always more to the story about what is happening. When we respect the journey, we build great organizations, filled with great people.
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