Embracing Human Imperfection
Why does leading need courage? Considering that courage is defined by Woodard (2007) as one’s ability to feel the fear and keep going anyway, it takes courage to lead because leading has risks and while personal risk can be deterring, the risks that involve others as well as the institution one leads can be detrimental to one’s health. Leading can also be exhilarating when a course is set in motion towards a well-defined vision because every step closer to that vision can promote a myriad of feelings from satisfaction to exhilaration. Furthermore, when a group of people, believe in the same vision and walk the similar path towards realizing it, the combined energy can create incredible momentum and vigor adding potent fuel towards the direction of the vision. Such combined and collaborative energy is so powerful that it can transform an institution.
Leadership is about defining a clear vision and developing an action plan to accomplish this vision while empowering people towards this path. It is about people; influencing them to move towards a common goal (Northhouse, 2013). But, while leading has an ideal aspect attached to the very word, it is common knowledge that leading is also about managing; in fact, managing could take up the greatest chunk of a leader’s day and management can be less than ideal. Managing is more about processes, tasks, problem solving, moving forward sometimes against the tide and getting things done so as to clear the path towards the vision (Yemm, 2012).
More importantly, the courage to lead is about embracing human imperfection: our own and the imperfections of others. Yet, leaders must always portray an image of strength and perfection in order to inspire confidence. It is true that we look to leaders to guide us through the challenges, to portray strength, confidence, knowledge and skill; superhuman abilities that somehow rub off on us when we are less confident, afraid or insecure. But leaders have natural limitations; experience their own fears, insecurities, doubts and make decisions that may not always have optimal outcomes. Similarly, the people they lead also have natural limitations due to limited abilities, experience, and knowledge. Effective leaders however tend to move horizontally (Clark, 2004). They are interested in doing things for others and with others and less so for their own advancement and prestige. They move forward and when things don’t go as planned, they preoccupy themselves with working things out, removing the obstacles or rounding out the sharp edges. This is different from always moving vertically because continuous vertical movement means constantly moving up. Inevitably there is a preoccupation with doing things perfectly, with critical self-evaluation, with a desperate need to avoid mistakes and a highly competitive attitude. Effective leadership means having the ‘courage to be imperfect’ (Dreikurs, 1957) and allowing others to do the same.