Courage

THE TENSION

Courage. Leadership requires you to move forward when you are uncomfortable - to have conversations you have been structuring reasons to avoid, to make calls that cannot be made from a place of certainty, to stand in front of outcomes you cannot fully control. Courage is not the absence of that discomfort. It is what you do with it.

“The conversation you keep not having is shaping your team as surely as any you do have.”

THE SCENARIO

Nathan Clarke has been Land and Natural Resources Mapping Team Lead at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for five months. He is a considered, thorough, and careful leader - qualities his team appreciates and his manager has noted positively.

There is a conversation Nathan has been not having for three weeks.

One of his team members, Raj, is technically competent but consistently difficult in collaboration - dismissive in team meetings, resistant to peer review, and prone to working alone in ways that create downstream integration problems in the biosecurity risk datasets the team produces. Two other team members have mentioned it to Nathan, carefully and indirectly. Nathan knows it is affecting the team.

He has a one-on-one with Raj every fortnight. In the last two, Nathan has opened with workload, moved through deliverables, touched on the integration issue lightly, and moved on before it became direct. Each time, he has left the meeting with a plan to raise it properly next time.

This morning, Raj has sent an email that makes the integration problem worse. Nathan reads it, drafts a response, deletes it, and goes to make a coffee.

The conversation is still waiting. The team already knows.

WHAT’S DRIVING IT

Courage is the state of being that gives rise to the ability to make decisions, move forward, and take action when you are uncomfortable, frightened, or concerned. It is not the absence of fear - courage shows up precisely when fear or discomfort is present.

Nathan is not avoiding the conversation because he doesn’t know what to say. He is avoiding it because saying it clearly will create a moment he cannot control. That discomfort is legitimate. What is not legitimate is using it as a reason to let the situation continue, while two team members absorb the cost and Raj continues without feedback.

Every week Nathan delays, the message he sends - unintentionally but clearly - is that this behaviour is acceptable. Courage in leadership is not about being bold without anxiety. It is about moving forward anyway.

A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH COURAGE

A healthy relationship with courage means you are likely to look for ways to move forward, make decisions, and take action even when you are afraid, feel threatened, or are challenged. Others may consider you brave-hearted and spirited - someone who stands up for their values and in defence of their team when it is required.

In practice, this looks like having the difficult conversation in the week it is needed rather than the month after. It looks like making the call when the call is genuinely yours to make, even when the outcome is not guaranteed. It looks like your team knowing that when something needs to be addressed, you will address it - with care, but without delay.

REFLECTION PROMPTS

• What conversation have you been not having that your team already knows you’ve been not having?

• When you avoid a difficult interaction, what story do you tell yourself about why now isn’t the right time?

• What is the real cost of delay - to the person who needs the feedback, to the people who are absorbing the impact, and to you?

• What would it look like to have the conversation this week, clearly and with care, rather than next month?

If there’s a conversation you’ve been structuring reasons to avoid -

the Being Profile maps how courage operates in your leadership - where it is available and where it is not - and what becomes possible when you stop waiting for the right moment.

Get in touch at hello@mappingbeing.com.au

While the organisations referenced exist, the team lead, other people and the team name have been used for demonstration purposes only. Any resemblance to real-life people, teams, organisations or situations is purely coincidental.

Reference: Tashvir, A. (2021). BEING (p. 305). Engenesis Publications.

[Published 11 June 2026]