Courage in the Corporate World: Do or Die?

Have you ever heard of the quote ‘It’s better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission?’ Well, I really like this phrase. In fact, it should be written on your bedroom wall, especially if you want to make it in the corporate world.

Yeah, on your bedroom wall…. or anywhere else where you would see it multiple times in a day. However, before elaborating more on this, let me be clear about one thing: I’m not saying that everyone with an ambition of climbing the corporate ladder should start breaking rules every time there is one of those rare opportunities to do something productive and have the possibility of making a difference.

Instead, my version of ‘Courage’ is more complicated. And it’s even deeper rooted in how large corporates tend to operate.

Let me explain.

Corporate hierarchy

Despite a couple of rare examples in the field, most corporates are being driven in a hierarchical way. And that’s not even the full picture. Some of these companies have put an endless list of processes and principles in place to provide ‘guidance’ about almost everything.

Instead of relying on employees’ virtual ‘ethical’ antennas to ensure they’re abiding by the rules, corporates are mostly super keen on defining and implementing ridiculous ‘rules’; from prescribed office check in to a specific template you should use to present your idea, the list is endless and is mostly getting longer over time.

If you ask me, I think this is the senior management’s version of ‘control’. And if you were to ask me again, now for my opinion, my answer would be clear: putting too much emphasis on these rules, is also – excuse my language – a version of corporate terror.  

Play by the rules

Sure, every single C-level executive wants you to play by the rules. All good, there’s nothing wrong with it. However, they assume that by having too many processes and principles in place, predictable outcomes and standardised levels of service will be guaranteed.  

Really?

I fully disagree with the C-level’s assumption. Apart from some bad apples, it is hard to find a corporate professional who purposely acts in any bad or unethical way. Even more important: employees can figure out what’s right or wrong themselves.

And not only that. Any manager who’s focussing to much on following the company rules and general processes could negatively impact the employees’ entrepreneurial mindset. And let me be even more blunt: making the rules and only rules, the backbone of an organisation’s system, could make subordinates feel numb.

And welcome to the ‘Yes Man’ culture. Phew, not again!!

Control

I can now hear you say, ‘But there should be some form of control, especially when it comes to following the rules.’  

Partly yes, but I generally believe in self-driven people and teams. They themselves should not only understand the rules, but also play by the rules. And they should do it because they want to, not because some manager asked them to do it.

Let me explain it by describing the following fictional situation:

In the Spring of 2010, a German car manufacturer successfully launched their top-line car, a fancy sedan with a catalogue price of 64.325 euro. Not more than three years later, the sales are pretty good; the company even outperformed their own ambitions business plan. 

However, there’s a challenge: the long-term brand loyalty amongst buyers is low, especially when compared to other top-line cars in the same segment. As a result, car-owners are open in buying top-end cards from other brands. The number of owners buying newer models of the high-end cars, referred to as the renewal rate, is lower than that of its competitors.   

So, imagine this: as a brand manager of this top-end car, you are not only responsible for the commercial success of this car, but also for maintaining the long-term brand loyalty.

After going through a lot of data and reports, you’ve come up with a bold assumption: modifying the after-sale experience could strengthen the long-term client relationships and eventually enhance brand loyalty.

After talking to dealers and co-workers, you’ve come up with a pilot. The objective is simple: does an improved after-sale experience make a difference and if so, what are the key elements of the winning formula?

To find out about it, you’ve come up with a pilot and selected 5 identical dealerships. One serves as the benchmark in the test, nothing will be done at this dealership. The idea for all the other dealerships is simple: implement one or more improvements, one or two for every other dealership. The after-sale experience at the fifth dealership will include most of the improvements of the second, third and fourth dealer.

As a professional, you monitor what happens at all the 5 dealerships during a period of – let’s say – 3 months.

And then it is finally time to update your manager or senior about it.

If these propositions prove to be successful, the company will be willing to roll it out for all new customers.

I will now lay out two scenarios. Before you reflect on the scenario’s it’s important to keep this in mind: you’re driving this initiative. You not only came up with the idea, but even brought it further. You’ve assured funding and even approached the participating dealers: they’re all behind the idea. You’re now heading to your manager’s office to discuss the idea.

What happens?

First scenario: before offering help, your manager congratulates you with the good work and double checks on some of the elements. It’s a fun and energising conversation.

Second scenario: your manager partly embraces the idea but has a lot of additional questions: about the idea itself. About legal risks. And about all the checkmarks during the process. He asks you to update him during the entire process.

Conclusion

So, got it? Now think about how you would walk out of the room in both scenarios. What’s the difference? While every single question in the second scenario is a valid one, it will probably ignite a lot of frustration. And if it happens too many times, it will kill the entrepreneurial mindset and even erase all of one’s courage.

So, let’s deep dive into this case. And now try to look at the situation from the manager’s perspective. What’s the situation here? You had appointed this professional two years ago. Knowing that the professional was always following the rules up until the start of this new creative initiative, why is there a need to micromanage him now?

So, what do you think happens with the professional?

Not every professional can drive things with limited guidance, but this one is a seasoned employee. So, I think he or she will get very frustrated. And not only that. If it happens more often with this manager, the professional could become more afraid, more afraid to make mistakes. Even worse: the professional could become risk-averse, losing all his or her courage.

Courage, yes

And don’t mistake having courage during initiatives with driving rogue operations. Having courage doesn’t mean not following the law, not playing by the rules. And it also doesn’t mean driving operations by taking big risks. Instead, it means taking full ownership and relying heavily on one’s professionalism.

As a manager, one should embrace someone’s courage and not kill it!