Of all the things fascinating about courage, one stands out – it can often be contagious. As innovation leadership experts, Dr Merom Kline and Dr Louise Yochee Klein have spent decades working with CEOs, thought leaders and growth-stage businesses. In that time, they have crystallized insights on winning team dynamics in the context of risk-averse traps. Merom and Louise’s Encourage Quotient scorecard lists 5 key Courage Activators to boost entrepreneurial leaders' foresight and capacity to instill courage.
We will take a closer look at their philosophy, born out of their deep familiarity with preparing innovation teams for success.
Are you Risk-Averse?
Building team courage is about multiplying ideas and allowing your team to take risks. It is the way to drive adoption and engagement. We want teams to bring their best work, challenge the status quo, and accelerate adoption instead of merely conforming to expectations. When the boss says, “I don’t really like this idea,” does it end or create a conversation? The key lies in taking note of these traps – especially during setbacks. Such a mindset pushes us into an initiation zone of learning, action, and invention.
Merom and Louise have identified 12 common risk-averse traps teams must free themselves from. Three of these include:
- Hierarchy deference: Teams often get stuck pleasing higher-ups. It leaves no room for creating value. Courageous teams push back, foster open dialogue, and break free from the hierarchy trap.
- Win/lose rivalries: These situations are common after funding when a new leadership team creates friction. We do not want win/lose rivalries to hinder progress. Teams need the courage to base decisions on facts and logic, not power struggles.
- Groupthink: It is the almost-delusional comfort of like-mindedness. Courageous teams encourage diverse opinions, avoiding the trap of unanimous agreement that blinds them to risks.
But perhaps the most vicious trap is victim thinking. In the face of sudden and expected challenges, it is essential to preserve a growth mindset. It could mean, for instance, investors staying true to their goals and looking out for innovative companies despite torrid macro conditions and global upheavals. It could refer to founders weathering a funding winter with grit. Such a mindset skips playing the victim card and encourages a learning perspective. Team building should empower teams to face challenges head-on, optimizing performance for a "win-win-win" outcome.
Creating Courageous Teams
When adversity knocks, successful teams consistently deliver and create their luck. Merom and Louise's five critical factors that help elevate teams beyond risk-averse traps agree with decades of research – from early dissertations to recent studies from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Google. These factors have been summarized in the Encourage Quotient (NQ) and identified through years of hands-on experience, practical observation and academic scrutiny. They provide a blueprint to courage for leaders and investors alike. Investors in due diligence teams can seek these 5 factors and enhance their role in value creation.
Ask: Cultivating a Culture of Learning
Leadership begins with asking questions rather than giving orders. Are leaders open to learning and new perspectives, or do they justify their opinions? The agility to embrace new skills and improve the team's value proposition distinguishes exceptional leaders. Questions from team members are not only encouraged but seen as a way to innovate and progress.
Arouse Passion: Energizing the Team
Even as problems large and small keep nagging away at them, exceptional leaders give off an aura, a passion that can energize and uplift the team. Sometimes, it can be a simple smile. Whether facing technical problems, sales obstacles, or adoption hurdles, good leaders embody positivity. The ability to maintain a vibrant presence has a profound impact on team morale and fosters a shared sense of purpose.
Aim High: Setting Ambitious Goals
When the going gets tough, exceptional leaders do not settle for mediocrity. They set audacious goals that soar beyond conventions. Aiming high also means pushing boundaries, upgrading products, and landing impactful customers. Exceptional leaders focus on creating lasting impact and fulfilling a higher purpose.
Align With Trust: Building a Foundation of Trust
A high level of trust within a team creates a foundation where members are willing to take risks to support each other. Leaders understand that they may even need to surrender hegemony when transitioning between business phases. Trust is a commitment to respect expertise and allowing the team to flourish with the support of each member.
Adhere: Upholding Disciplines and Standards
When faced with challenges, exceptional leaders stand by adherence practices. It means following all quality standards, safety measures, environmental protections, and regulatory codes. To achieve this, leaders establish comprehensive plans, projects, and procedures in advance. They focus on collaboration, information sharing, and key performance indicators, ensuring a systematic approach that fosters a culture of accountability.
Investors involved in the due diligence process can utilize the NQ or Encourage Quotient score. In essence, it enhances their ability to foresee challenges and opportunities, scale the business beyond funding, and cultivate the psychological strength to make courage contagious. These factors are a comprehensive measure of a leader's tact and resilience. Building courage within a team is a cornerstone for fostering innovation and progress. A team that stays within its imagined boundaries never realizes its potential. Merom and Louise urge teams to deal with risk-averse traps proactively, encouraging a learning perspective and boosting performance for a "win-win-win" outcome.
About the speakers:
Merom Klein has 30+ years of experience as an innovation leadership coach, facilitator, business development advisor, and organization development and transformation leader. He is a serial entrepreneur who founded Courage Institute to bring the 5 Courage Activators to corporate university and entrepreneurship training programs -- and equip leaders to step up, speak up, reach out, and lead from the middle. He is the principal architect of action learning leadership and team mobilization simulations, which are used in executive education programs throughout the globe. Merom earned his PhD @ Temple University before relocating to Israel.
Louise Yochee Klein is a psychologist who heads Courage International's innovation leadership coaching practice. She has equipped hundreds of thought-leaders in technical, engineering, and scientific roles to step up, speak up, and reach out with courage -- as CEOs, Directors, General Managers, and Advisors. She has partnered with dozens of Chief Learning Officers across the globe to use action learning to lift courage and accelerate career growth -- and has equipped hundreds of entrepreneurial CEOs to wow and woo investors and partners.
Watch Merom and Louise’s keynote here: https://keiretsuforum.tv/how-to-build-a-strong-innovative-team/
