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- What is the organization hoping to accomplish with the intervention?
- Who is the target of this intervention (e.g. employees, managers, etc.)?
- What population is this intervention intended for? (e.g. type of organization or industry)?
- What problem does this intervention seek to solve, and/or what positive outcome does this intervention seek to enhance or create?
2. Has the presenter adequately described the components of the intervention?
- What are the psychological (or physical) mechanisms this intervention seeks to impact? (e.g. Would it work by creating positive habits of attention? By increasing self-efficacy? By causing a positive physiological shift?)
- What are the expected outcomes and practical results you would anticipate from its implementation? (e.g. Would it result in more positive emotions? Greater productivity at work? Reduced crime rates?)
3. Has the presenter provided empirical and theoretical evidence for the intervention?
4. Has the presenter made a strong case for his or her intervention?
5. Does the implementation plan seem well thought-out and appropriate for the population? If the team already implemented the plan, did they adequately describe their thought-process and learning?
6. Do the expected outcomes seem supported by evidence? If the team already tested the intervention, were the outcomes well measured and explained? Do you think this intervention would work with other populations?
Dina – great intervention idea! I am curious to see the outcome of your program as courage is a required behavior in my industry for workers to stand up and stop unsafe work. It is particularly challenging to speak up when one is a lower level of authority – very challenging!
Darrah, let’s make sure we connect at IPPA!
Love that you have a long timeline on your intervention Dina with multiple points of training and coaching for sustainability. Looking forward to seeing it in action.
Thank you Judy. As the program is modular in design, I’ve been able to implement the first narrative – Narrative of Self; the conversations were impactful and the outcomes notable. Also, I used knowledge gained from developing this program to build a solid foundation for a 2-day Wellbeing Workshop, with a strong focus on courage and hope.
Hi Dina,
Thank you for your intervention proposition, this is a very contemporary problem in research and practice! How do you reckon coaching can help develop courage throughout time? What would leaders be coached on?
Hi Jessica and thank you for your comment. I take a strengths-based, appreciative approach to my coaching and as such, the coaching can help leaders to continue to discover past instances in which they were courageous – personally and/or professionally – and resultant outcomes, thereby building their own narrative of courageous acts. These narratives become part of their own meta-data which can be called upon when needed to act with courage in future situations, with possible (non situation specific) actions already considered. Also, coaching can assist in helping the leader to discuss the courageous acts of others and resultant outcomes. Through coaching, perspective of courage may be broadened as may be compassion for self and others, gratitude and more.
Hi Dina. Thank you very much for sharing your idea. I’ve just realize that courage could be an underestimated psychological resource when we design interventions on leadership. Thank you for help me to became aware of this.
I have a question about your intervention design. I usually am worried about how to motivate people to engage to a long timeline intervention. In my experience, Companies, CEOs, managers and employees prefer short and intensive intervention. How do you cope with that? Your experience could be a great help for me.
Thanks and good luck!
Thank you for your comment Alberto. I agree with you that often short and intensive interventions are preferred, and we also know:
1. 70/20/10 – that is, 70% of learning takes place on the job, 20% through coaching,10% in the workshop
2. that sustained behavioural change needs to be supported over time; and hence my program includes each aspect of 70/20/10 and takes place over 39 weeks.
In addition to sharing the above information with CEOs, leaders and the decision-makers, I appeal to their own leadership learning journey which they do admit has happened over time (not overnight). I explain that the 39 weeks is not laborious, but rather it is about a handful of interactions over this timeframe which includes coaching, receiving workshop reminders, sharing further stories of courageous acts should participants choose, being a part of an alumni … these interactions may be described as short and intensive, they just take place over time. Additional benefits of the program are many, including the support network of participants increases and deepens, helping them to further embed and sustain desired behavioural change.
Thank you again. Good luck with your project. I hope to meet you at IPPA!
Thanks Dina for your reply. I consider your work methodology very interesting! Thanks for sharing your experiences and ideas. For sure I will consider them in my future projects.
Let’s keep in touch and sharing our ideas.
Hi Dina, this is an excellent and much needed approach. I wonder if the results would vary according to organisational characteristics (size, structure – hierarchy, flat etc)?
Thanks for your comment Amanda. I imagine results will vary; all the things you mention may come up/be explored in the second narrative which is “Narrative of Context” – that is, the narrative (you tell yourself). of the environment in which you work. I’m keen to explore and find out!
Dear Dina, thank you for a clear and compelling presentation. Your initial question – asking us to imagine courageous leadership – hooks the viewer straight away. The backdrop you give for why we need more authentic leadership, in the context of corporate scandals, sets the scene for your intervention. Using research by world-class researchers like Luthans and Avolio as well as Walumba and colleagues gives strength to your arguments as does that fact that you show why, in everyday contexts, there are real-life challenges for leaders to be authentic (e.g., org politics, market competition). Is the courage the answer that helps leaders be more authentic? This is your core proposition and is a very interesting idea. The way you have designed the intervention and the way you plan to measure your intervention shows high level knowledge of the fields of positive organizational behavior and positive organizational scholarship. Courage in the workplace has received little empirical attention and your three-step program paves the way forward for a new research and practice agenda in positive organizational scholarship. Well done!
Thank you for your feedback and encouragement Lea. I have worked with senior and executive leaders to explore and develop their authentic leadership for the past 10 years. My experience and observations, supported by discussions with clients, suggest that courage may be an enabler to embedding and sustaining desired leadership behaviour. As the construct of authentic leadership continues to evolve in order to recognise the complexity of leadership, the context in which it is practised, and to meet the desired outcomes of leadership, my passion and motivation to learn more grows. While courage is an essential leadership behaviour for success, it is not the only behaviour required of leaders, but it may be the one which supports them most in these challenging times …and I’m keen to find out!
Hi Dina! I congratulate you for your courage and passion developing this intervention. I value very much your definition of courage and the narrative practices you included. We are all storytellers, and what is best is sharing what has gone well and has been courageous in the past, to motivate the best for the future to become an authentic leader. Thank you and I hope to meet you in person at the congress.
Thank you for your comments Alejandra. I agree, we are all story-tellers with unique stories to tell, and that’s what makes humanity and our whole planet so wonderful. Let’s make sure to meet at the congress.
Hi Dina congratulations on your innovative approach to address this under-utilised aspect of leadership development! My experience in delivering leadership development to all levels of organisational leaders anecdotally supports this contention that courage is key not only to the efficacy of the leaders in their role but also to their own wellbeing. I’m really looking forward to hearing the results of your investigation! I also really like your approach to the design of the program and your intention in building a longitudinal approach that incorporates both workshops and coaching. I wonder whether you will testing the efficacy of this approach as part of your study? Building an evidence base regarding the efficacy of education design and outcomes is also a key area for us to develop in the future, particularly as organisations balance out the needs of the business with effective professional development.
Hi Rachel and thank you for your comments. I agree with you regarding the need and importance of testing the efficacy of the approach and would appreciate the opportunity to discuss possible ways to do so. Thanks again.
Thanks Dina for sharing your intervention with us. The topic of courage in leadership is certainly one that is very much needed, and further research would be welcomed and the design of interventions and practical tools to guide leaders is much needed. I agree, that leaders need to demonstrate courage and developing this skill is critical when challenges arise, uncertainty exists and difficult decisions need to made. I imagine we could all do with developing more
courage in order to ‘do the right thing’ and live out our values to be our authentic selves. Courage – defining it, exploring it and having solutions how to develop it, has had little attention in organisational development. Thank you for focusing on this and designing a solution that helps leaders be more authentic. I’m excited to see to watch how this further develops as you pilot the program. Good luck!
Hi Marcia and thank you for your comments and encouragement. Anecdotally and intuitively, courage does enable authenticity, particularly in environments that may not value being authentic. My passion for authentic leadership and courage leads me to find out if the science supports this. I look forward to sharing learning in this area.
Congratulations Dina! The focus on courage is useful in these times of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ and also in remaining ‘authentic’ in the face of wicked public policy issues. All the best of luck Dina and I do look forward to more updates from you.
Thank you Karina. I look forward to the opportunity to provide updates and learning; and also to sharing anecdotal evidence for feedback and broader perspectives.
Great job, Dina. Will you continue to work with Courage? I’ve developed an assessment of Courage that might interest you. Contact me at mark@ListonGroup.org if you are interested. I hope to meet you at IPPA in Quebec.
Mark
Hi Mark, I am very excited to get your message. I’d be very grateful to learn about your assessment. I’ll contact you via email address above. Look forward to connecting via email and at IPPA. Thank you, Dina
Dina, congratulations for having the courage to call out this important quality in leaders and relative gap in workplace research. 🙂 I would love to learn more about the courage interventions mentioned in your reference Pury et al (2014) and the specific workshop narratives and coaching exercises you propose. A few questions and comments: Would the reflection and narrative exercises work by increasing a leaders’ self-efficacy for showing courage in a work setting? How will you overcome challenges to organizations that see 39 weeks as a prohibitively long timeline? How will you measure workplace well-being? Hopefully we can continue this discussion within the WOD.
Hi Jenny, thank you so much for your comments. Yes, let’s continue the discussion and learning. In response to your questions: the intention is that the reflection, the narratives, the coaching and all exercises associated with the intervention will lead to increased leader self-efficacy for showing workplace courage. (It would also be interesting to measure impact on day-to-day courage and follower self-efficacy for demonstrating workplace courage at some point.)
It is intended that the PERMAH Survey (Peggy Kern) be used to measure workplace leader wellbeing.
Regarding the 39 weeks, please see my response to Alberto Ortega-Maldonado (above) for a full response; in short, I appeal to the leadership learning journey of CEOs/executives that I am speaking to, that has occurred over time … often, this time being much longer than 39 weeks.
Jenny, it would be great to meet if you are attending the conference. Thanks again for your input.