Courage Goes to Work
How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance, and Get Results
By: Bill Treasurer
Published: Oct 1, 2008
ISBN: 9781576755013
Format: Hardcover, 208pp
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub
Courage is, most often, a behavioral response to a challenge, writes courage coach Bill Treasurer in his workplace changing book Courage Goes to Work: How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance, and Get Results. The author considers the role of a manager is to activate the latent courage in themselves and in their employees.
Bill Treasurer identifies three types of courage that all managers and staff members must possess to create a high performance, motivated company. He describes TRY Courage where a person attempts a new idea or makes a second attempt following a failure. A second type of courage is TRUST Courage, where a manager lets go of micro-management and delegates responsibility to others, following the lead of another person's idea, and demonstrating personal integrity. The third type of courage is TELL Courage which involves being assertive, telling the truth about ideas and plans, and confessing to mistakes to prevent them from getting worse.
Bill Treasurer (photo left) recognizes that everyone has the potential to be courageous, and that contrary to popular belief, courage can be taught and learned like any other skill. The author demonstrates clearly that when employees act in a courageous manner, the company is not only more productive, but the employees are happier, more motivated, and possess higher levels of job satisfaction. The book contains examples of how managers lacking one of the three core forms of courage don't achieve their full potential. The author shows how managers and staff members can fill up what are described as buckets of courage, and how learning to act courageously creates a stronger workplace.
For me, the power of the book is the practical approach to understanding courage in the workplace as a skill that can be learned and put into practice. For managers, there are self assessment tools, as well as evaluation skills that help develop the three forms of courage across the company. Courageous employees are more likely to initiate new projects, point out improved techniques for existing systems, and to speak up when honesty is needed to prevent costly errors or to admit to mistakes before they cause additional damage.
I highly recommend Courage Goes to Work: How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance, and Get Results by Bill Treasurer, to any managers seeking to improve their own managerial skills, those of their employees, and for boosting productivity and job satisfaction. Instead of feeling a sense of helplessness, a manager can activate the potential courage possessed by everyone in the organization, and create an empowered workforce.
Read Courage Goes to Work: How to Build Backbones, Boost Performance, and Get Results by Bill Treasurer and take control of your own life and instill courage in your employees to build a courageous workplace. When courage goes to work, it strengthens everyone, and motivates them to achieve greatness.
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