I was recently interviewed for the Be Brave at Work podcast, and my host Ed asked a great question:
When have you been brave at work?
You might not consider bravery as a work term but it may come so naturally that you don’t even think of it in those terms.
Like when we’re a leader and have the power to help someone – you think of it as part of your role. It’s usually when we don’t have direct authority for change that sets the conditions for active bravery, when we must seize the moment. There are small but important ways of being brave for others, such as being a male ally in a meeting, speaking up when a woman isn’t getting credit for her idea.
Then there are the times where you feel a great personal risk when you have a strong calling to stand up for ideals. An example would be when you face the risk of losing your job for reporting illegal or unethical behavior. Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.
What about being brave with regard to YOUR own career. When was the last time you did some intense reflection and asked:
· Am I getting the support I need?
· Will I get a raise or promotion for the extra work I’m taking on?
· Is my family ok?
· Do I have the right team in place so I don’t burn out?
· Does my boss support my career progression?
Depending on the answer to these questions, you might even have to find the courage to consider making a job shift – something many are doing during these COVID times.
If you do find yourself thinking about making a job change, I wrote about reasons to pause and consider staying in my recent HBR article. Staying might actually be the bravest decision you can make right now — for your growth and setting up bigger opportunities long-term.
I have found times in my career where I gained so much more than I could have imagined --by staying. You can leverage the credibility you’ve banked, and as I wrote about in my Promotability Index Guidebook, you can take this time to reflect on areas improvement, and partner with your manager to hone your craft. Possibly even negotiate a pay raise or job change.
I created the Promotability Index® toolkit to empower you and your team with an opportunity to assess where you are vs. where you want to be. It gives you a shared language of objective criteria to work on, with exercises and tools that will continue to help you grow and get promoted (for those of you who bought a copy, thank you so much!).
Be brave and have those powerful conversations with your boss and team. You have so much to gain by doing so.