CreatingWE Rule #9: Take Your Seat At The Table And Use It

Are you courageous enough to take your full seat at the table in your teams, companies and cultures?  Too often, we answer this  question with a yes or no.  The truth is we all have the capacity for courage.  They key is being willing to be courageous!  Being willing is the capacity to say yes to whatever we said we would do...no matter what.  Are you willing to say yes to whatever it takes to be courageous?  With a simple yes, you can courageous take your full seat at the table.

Once you have taken your seat at the table, here comes the difficult part...maintaining that courage so your voice is heard.  When you have an idea, oftentimes our brain gets in the way of sharing that idea.  We may think to ourselves: no one is going to listen to my idea, I am not sure this will be helpful, last time someone laughed at my idea, etc.  This is our survival brain taking over.  Now, as we said earlier, you are willing to be courageous...correct?  If so, thank your brain for the input and move those concerns to the side.  It is time to access that courage and share your idea.

Courageously taking your seat at the table is more than just providing ideas.  Sometimes it is strategically asking questions that help shift the space.  Most meeting discussions seem to center around why an idea cannot work due to lack of resources, times, etc.  Learning to ask certain questions is an excellent way to utilize your courageousness to benefit the team.  Questions you could ask include:

• What might success look like in this situation? (Make it future oriented instead of why things don't work)
• What might our next great success as a team look like?

Companies, teams and cultures with the greatest success have one universal thing in common:  the belief that every employee, no matter their position, education or experience, has the creativity and brilliance to take our company to its next level.  It is all about courageously taking our seat at the table, speaking up and taking our organizations to their next level of greatness!