Organizational behavior expert Jim Detert, PhD, caught the courage bug early on, writing his doctoral dissertation on why people speak up when it’s not easy and gathering data on courageous behavior.
Over 10 years of research, he concluded that myths about courage abound—that “people tend to view it as these grand, heroic events that make you either a hero or a martyr, and that it’s an innate capacity of a few”—but that people believe such myths in part because it lets them off the hook.
But Detert, a professor of business administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, notes that nearly everyone he’s worked with sees the need for more courage in themselves and in the world. And as a professor of future business leaders and a leadership trainer, he also saw that the ability to behave courageously, with competence, simply wasn’t being taught in business schools.
“We don’t usually help students and leaders practice under conditions that mirror reality,” he said. “And for leaders, that reality is often high stress, high emotion.”
To counter this problem, Detert and colleagues developed an experiential leadership development lab that helps current and future leaders build key interpersonal and decision-making skills one step at a time. Using the model of “deliberate practice”—a training intervention used in performance domains such as athletics, music, and therapy—they deploy a comprehensive methodology that helps people gradually develop the behaviors needed to effectively address specific interpersonal challenges, such as giving difficult feedback to a subordinate or confronting peers who are behaving inappropriately.
[Related: Courage: Why some people act despite fear]
Tools he employs include a courage ladder, where people list their challenges from mild to difficult; iterative practice sessions with trained actors; feedback via videotaping and physiological measures; and comprehensive background training material that draws on cognitive psychology, exposure and desensitization therapy, educational psychology, athletic coaching, communication skills, and more.
Participants report that the training makes a difference in the workplace and in other life areas, too. “[As a result of the training] it’s common for people to say, ‘I’ve been estranged from my sister for 3 years, and I’m going to call her next week.’ Or, ‘My parents took over control of my wedding, and I want to get control back. I’m going to call my mom this weekend and have that difficult conversation,” said Detert. “These kinds of things tell me that people are hungry to develop these skills, because fear affects all domains of our interpersonal lives,” Detert adds. “My view is that if you practice key skills in one domain, you’ll get better across all domains, because the underlying physiological, cognitive, and behavioral challenges are the same.”
Given how relatively rare it is for people to choose courageous actions, it’s more important than ever that researchers keep examining the concept, in hopes that this knowledge will eventually help people exercise it more often.
In workplaces, people high in social courage report greater life satisfaction and lower stress, depression, and anxiety. Research shows that narcissistic individuals may misuse social courage at work, acting boldly because of inflated self-worth and a belief they’re immune to consequences.
