Fear@Work

A CEO recently expressed concern that there was an environment of fear among his employees in the workplace. He was trying to understand the underlying issues driving this, to determine how to address it. His sincerity was commendable, and it provided an opportunity to identify drivers of fear by starting at the top of the organization.

Fear can be paralyzing, creating an environment of indecision as employees try to figure out what their leaders “want” them to hear or to do, and preventing diverse perspectives that serve as possibilities for achieving organizational objectives. Employees’ internal insecurities (“Am I meeting others’ expectations of how I’m performing in my role?”), bump up against external uncertainties (“Will I become a victim of how the environment is shifting around me?”). They contemplate issues of job security, job performance, leadership changes, industry direction and business capability. While all these factors are beyond any one person’s control, the role of leadership is to build an environment of trust and avoid fertilizing seeds of fear.

Trust is built on relationships (knowing people well), transparency (understanding underlying motives), and predictability (ability to correctly anticipate behavior). (more…)