We are very aware of the concept of courage in our lives. Courage was a central theme during the 80-year celebration of the Second World War, the exemplary courage of the soldiers to defeat a tyrant and ensure that peace was the victor.
We are also familiar with family and friends demonstrating great courage in terms of coping with a debilitating illness or similar adversity. But we tend not to relate it to the workplace. We would not normally refer to a company or employee as courageous.
Courage needs a higher profile in the workplace. We might describe courage as having to make unpopular but necessary decisions. Whistle-blowing is a good example. Also making decisions which will have a negative impact on individuals but would benefit the majority and the future of the organisation.
Directors are constantly having to decide on the distribution of funds (profit). How much should go to the shareholders, to future investment and/or to staff as reward bonuses? We often read where the financial commentators feel the shareholders are over-endowed at the cost of investment in current or future projects.
Another observation is the higher profile of climate change within the corporate arena means directors will have to put it centre-stage within their CSR Policy (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy statement and will be held responsible for its adherence and implementation.
Commercial courage forgoes popularity and embraces duty, responsibility and accountability and should be given a higher profile to permeate our workplaces.
The Regent Coaching website, jobcoach.org.uk will support you in your quest for personality development and career planning but does not comment on how you should behave in the workplace.
There is no Socratic handbook to guide to making Board decisions on day-to-day executive actions. Here I must leave the door on corporate courage open in terms of trying to be directive or conclusive.
I think my best observation is that we all have that in-built sense of honesty and propensity to do good which we can apply to the big corporate governance picture or, on a lesser scale, to put in an honest and best effort when we are performing our daily tasks whether we are WFH or office based.
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