Leader must have courage to be truly effective. Margie Warrell in Stop Plying Safe Rethink Risk, Unlock the Power of Courage, Achieve Outstanding Success has great ideas for us. This is a case of not approaching your leadership as a pharmacist would but as an art.
- By unlocking the power of courage you can tap into your unbridled potential and enjoy the feeling that flows from working hard at work worth doing
- Research shows us that our brains are wired to overestimate risk, exaggerate its consequences and underestimate our ability to handle it.
- As a pharmacist we must play it safe so we don't harm a patient however leadership needs to be 180 degrees different
- Fear left unchecked can cause a leader to squander the power of their leadership so ask yourself the following to see where you might be limiting yourself
- Do you get uncomfortable when faced with an uncertain future
- Do you often try to avoid conflict or confrontation
- Do you doubt whether you have what it takes to be a pharmacy leader
- Do you loathe the idea of taking on a goal and failing miserably
- Do you sometimes “catstrophize” about worst-case scenarios particularly when you are contemplating a change or taking a chance on something new
- Cultivating your courage mindset and overcoming your natural fears
- Acknowledge what you are afraid of because if you don't own your fears they will own you. By taking a moment to think about your fears you unlock there grip on you
- Tame catastrophism as you can never totally tame your fears nor do you want to however you want to manage them. It is important to notice when you are letting your imagination get the better of you by thinking about the worse possible outcome and visualizing yourself being successful/handling what comes up
- Harness fear in your favor. The trick is to overturn what you are afraid may happen by taking action which harnesses the fear for your benefit
- Step through it: feel your fear and act anyway because by doing things you think you can’t do you realize how much more you can do.
- Move your mindset from fear to courage by thinking these ways
- Resist change to Embrace change
- Narrow minded to Open minded
- Critical to Curious
- Pessimistic to Optimistic
- Rigid to Flexible
- Self doubt to Self confidence
- What’s probable to What’s possible
- Left brain analysis to Logic and intuition
- What people think to What do you think
- What you give up to What you gain
- Seize opportunity from adversity as leadership is not for the faint of heart so use the SOAR approach, which helps you short circuit your stress response and rise above your challenges.
- Stop and step back by taking a few seconds to take a few deep breaths gives your mind time to regroup.
- Observe by visualizing yourself soaring up to skyscraper level and looking down on the situation you are currently struggling with as it will expand your response choices
- Ask bigger questions. When you give up arguing against your problems and use your smartest answers to work them out.
- Reframe your perspective not the issue as there is a world of difference between a person who has big problems and a person who makes their problems big
- Respond as there is a very distinct and important difference between reacting to a situation and responding to it. Responding well requires a clear and calm hand, rather than lurching reactively from one defensive position to another.
- Trust yourself and take action to have courage. The more you step out of your comfort zone into your courage zone the more you build your tolerance for risk and confidence to handle its consequences.
What fear do you need to tame this week?