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Build a Comfort Zone for the Boss

The term comfort zone is used more often than not to describe a behavioral range within which a person operates. Sometimes it’s used to define a place a person is either in or out of.

You might be described as being out of your comfort zone, for example, when you are going to the dentist for a root canal, sitting in the front seat of a roller coaster scared out of your wits, or skydiving from an airplane for the first time. Typically a heightened sense of anxiety is involved.

Being in a comfort zone is an anxiety-neutral condition in which there is no risk and your behavioral state allows you to deliver a steady and confident level of performance. There is no argument about which is better; being in the comfort zone is preferable.

Highly successful people actively seek their comfort zone so that their performance is enhanced or even optimized. If this is accomplished routinely or over an extended period, a higher level of skill or performance can be achieved.

Most professionals, including bosses, don’t necessarily consider themselves in any particular comfort zone. They simply do what they do because it’s expected—when, in fact, those of us who have responsibility for managing the boss ought to be seeking new and higher-level comfort zones on the boss’s behalf. We should help take our bosses to places to which they’re unaccustomed but in which they can experience greater organizational success. Think of it as an optimum performance level or a comfort zone in waiting.

Admiral Crowe had been chairman of the Joint Chiefs for three years when he inherited me as his public affairs advisor. The day I assumed that job, I gathered my staff of six. That was not a large number for the task of providing good counsel to the nation’s top military man, but they were all cream-of-the-crop practitioners.

Knowing that the admiral would be taking a 22-day trip to five nations in the Far East in just two weeks, I asked my staff what public events the chairman usually engaged in when overseas. Only ceremonial events, was the answer. What, no public speeches to noteworthy forums, no joint press conferences with his military counterparts, no one-on-one interviews with key reporters in the region, no media availabilities along the way?

No, none of those things, was their answer. “Why not?” I asked. Simple; he had never been asked, they responded.

A man comfortable in his own skin, the admiral did not shrink from public attention. Therefore, in a memo to him the next day, I challenged him to a number of public, media-driven activities during the upcoming trip. I assured him I would take responsibility for the actions and would gain concurrence from the U.S. ambassadors in the countries we were to visit. The admiral readily agreed to the proposal.

The burden was now on me to assemble a comfort zone that was acceptable, well designed, and well supported, and I did. With him every step of the way on the trip, I managed his engagement in several public events in the form of speeches, joint press conferences, and interviews. Stressing the importance of strong bilateral relations with the nations of Singapore, Thailand, Australia, the Philippines, and Japan, he mesmerized audiences with U.S. public outreach in the region. On a personal level, the successes he attained served as a solid foundation for my relationship with the admiral. They led to his willingness, even eagerness, to engage in subsequent bilateral activities during his last year in office before retirement.

In terms of performance management and development, the increase in public events and activities caused him to enter a new and acceptable comfort zone. Willing to explore new venues, he met with success after success, making his last year as chairman a period of optimal attention and achievement both at home and abroad. His public image went sky high.

Sure, there was more than a touch of luck involved, but taking the boss to a higher level was also a function of strategic thinking and planning. In Crowe’s case, knowing the audiences and publics he could reach, thinking of global messages that resonated with those publics, and having a vision for how that would leave lasting impressions with stakeholders all contributed to the desired outcome: building a better, stronger U.S. brand.

If you assume your boss has a brand—and he or she does—find ways to take the boss to places he or she has never been or thought to go. If the boss is stuck in a comfort zone that is limiting, devise a plan for raising the level of involvement or engagement. Take forward your ideas for how to do that in steps that are achievable. Be convincing with your initiative to move the boss forward.

Accept that there may be reluctance or even a fear to wander into the unknown or new territory. If the boss is willing to try it on for size, it just might fit and become a habit. Measure the differences the boss has made and evaluate the successes he or she has achieved. Being bold is not bad; in fact, it can feel good for the boss and be good for business.