Ever Wonder Where You’d Be If You Just…
We’ve all had a “sliding door” moment – but how often was it because you didn’t do something? What if you’d had the chutzpa to say “yes”?
Michelle* was a senior category management when she got a direct message on LinkedIn that she never expected. The recruiter said that her profile exactly matched what a new company was looking for in a CPO. That she’d likely get the job. The only problem, though, was that she’d only recently moved into her current role. What would her boss think if she left? And what about her peers?
Michelle really mulled it over. This was a great opportunity. But at the same time, she felt like her professional reputation was at stake. What might happen if she burnt important bridges? What if she didn’t like the new company? The fear ate at her, until it consumed her entire being. Better not go for it just in case, she thought…
Have you ever wondered where you’d be if you just did one thing or another? If you just faced your fear and went for it? If you just broke free of your comfort zone and did that thing you thought you’d never do?
The ‘what if’ is a feeling that haunts many of us, and one that can lead to many regrets. But if it’s fear holding us back, it’s something that we also need to confront, says Lucy Bloom. Lucy, an accomplished CEO, as well as world-renowned speaker and author, believes that we’ll all be much better off if we all learn to face our fears at work.
Lucy, who will be our next star guest speaker at the Corporate Courage event for The Faculty, recently revealed exactly how we can all face our fears at work … and why it’s absolutely critical to our careers that we do.
How to overcome common fears at work
What’s your biggest fear at work? A performance review? Your boss on a bad day? A restructure? According to Lucy, these fears are actually not what most of us are scared of at work. In fact, the thing most of us fear is something we face almost every day.
Lucy says, “The most common fear I see in a business setting is the fear of NO. People interpret that as a rejection so they scoot around it and avoid asking or making suggestions.”
The interesting thing that Lucy sees about this fear is that the ‘no’ actually might be – and still could be – a yes. Specifically, she believes:
“I have seen many instances where a no turned into a yes. A first-time no, what many people would class as a ‘failure’ is actually a chance to learn and a chance to zero in on success.’
“As soon as we grab no by the horns and relish failure, there’s a lot less to fear and very cool stuff happens on the other side of that fear.”
Knowing what risks to take
For many of us, fear and not taking risks are related. Our fear – whether legitimate or not – stops us from taking risks as we are too worried about negative outcomes.
But taking (sensible) risks, in work and in life, is critical to success. Doing so comes with a whole host of benefits, from opening you up to new challenges and opportunities, to encouraging you to become more creative and helping you understand what it is you really want. Some researchers go as far as to say that if you ever want to achieve your goals in life, you’ll need to start by taking positive, calculated risks.
Lucy, who has achieved some incredible things in her life, including becoming a CEO of a non-for-profit and publishing a book, is also a big believer in taking risks. But at work, she does acknowledge that these need to be appropriate risks. She explains:
“When it comes to risks, I always ask the question ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?’”
“If that worst thing is acceptable to you, then you are taking an acceptable risk. If the worst thing that could happen is bad bad bad, of course step away!”
Using that logic, what’s the worst that could happen if you took that promotion? Moved to a new city? Tried a different company? Sure, you might not like it, but conversely, you might love it! An acceptable amount of risk differs for different people, but putting yourself out there to consider it is an important first step.
How do you develop a healthy appetite for risk?
Taking risks – and overcoming fear, in general – can be very difficult for those of us who thrive in our comfort zone. But the key to developing a healthy risk appetite, says Lucy, is doing something in particular:
“In order to learn to take risks, you need to practice. It’s as simple as that.”
“If you are always in your tidy little box of comfort, you will never develop an appetite for risk. Risk needs to start to feel familiar.”
At work, this might mean speaking up in a meeting, challenging an accepted practice if you think it needs to be improved, or even something bigger, like taking a role you never imagined yourself in. In Lucy’s own life, she has had a lot of practice taking risks and doing things that terrify her. She explains:
“When I first went sea kayaking, I was terrified to venture out deep. Now I can paddle alone from Coogee to Bondi and back. It just took practice taking a little more risk each time I went out on the water.”
What is the first step to overcoming fear at work?
At the end of the day, taking risks and overcoming our fears is scary work. It’s certainly not something that we can do overnight, and it takes a lot of courage to do it. Sometimes, it might be about taking baby steps as opposed to completely and utterly challenging the status quo and changing things.
But you have to start somewhere, Lucy says. And when it comes to overcoming your fears, she says that we all need to start with this one critical rule:
“Stop thinking about what other people might think. Just stop.”
Let’s revert back to Michelle for a minute, the category manager we met at the beginning of the article. Do you think she could have benefited from this advice? Do you think she should have overcome her fear and went for the more senior role?
If you want to learn how to overcome your fear and develop the corporate courage you need to succeed, join the incredible Lucy Bloom on 30 March at 2pm.
This session is for The Faculty Roundtable members only. Not a member? For more information, please contact [email protected]
