Build your Bravery “muscles”

Yesterday, in “Innovation is simple“, I wrote:

As we emerge from the current lockdown, there will be decades worth of opportunities to innovate opening up in a matter of week and months.

In order to be able to move at the speed the world will now move at, each of us needs to be able to be comfortable with uncertainty, to be a VUCA2.0 leader in this VUCA world, making the decisions that need to made and when they need to be made.

I could advise you (and do), again and again, to “Act Now“, to Predict and be Proactive and Narrow your Focus, etc., yet if you are not ready and able to think, and act bravely, decisively and quickly, none of that will be of value.

So, first, build your Bravery “muscles”, get more and more comfortable being uncomfortable, being and making decisions outside your current comfort zone. Today, then, some simple tips on this.

Build on strengths by stretching with Bravery

The image above is a well-established model on Comfort, Learning (or Stretch) and Panic (or Fear) zone. In fact, my most viewed post of the last month is: “Be Kind“, which features this derivation of the model specific to the current environment.

So, as we look forwards to emerging into a changed and fast-changing world, build on your strengths by stretching. I wrote on this in detail around a year ago, noting these tips, a three-element iterative approach:

• Strengths. Bring awareness to your strengths, recognise these are your Comfort Zone.
• Stretch. Look for opportunities to get into your Stretch zone, both around doing more and different things with those strengths and putting yourself in situations where you are uncomfortable so you can use those and other skills and styles so as to grow your comfort zone.
• Iterate. Bravery is a virtuous circle. Be aware that if we are always in our Stretch Zone we will tend towards approaching the Panic Zone as it can be exhausting. Give yourself a break from time to time, not only literally taking time off to recharge, but also in doing work that you know sits squarely in your (ever-expanding, too!) Comfort Zone.

So, iterate. Establish your Comfort Zone, then consciously move into your Stretch Zone, then, having stretched the right amount, drop back to that (expanding) Comfort Zone for a while before Stretching again.

The world needs brave leaders to guide us through the changed and increasingly rapidly changing world. My purpose is to support you in that, to help you with your own journey to #MakingPotentialPossible.