Fear Factor
What's the biggest threat to your company? Competition?
Regulation? Changing technology? Maybe you should put fear on
your list. Fear is a small word that somehow touches our lives
in a big way. Fear of danger is a survival mechanism. Fear of
the change and the unknown is a destructive force that can
consume workplaces and degrade the performance of our companies.
As leaders, one of our most important jobs is to ensure that
fear does not take root.
The way to diminish fear in the workplace is direct and clear
communication. This is often more easily said than done however.
Even leaders with the best intentions wind up sending mixed
messages, what experts in organizational behavior call meta
messages. How so? The way in which you couch the message
itself--the words you use, your manner of speaking--communicates
additional, sometimes conflicting information. Whom you
communicate with sends another message--and whom you exclude
sends still another.
For example, Jane became VP of a small consulting team after a
merger. She was well respected for her leadership and determined
to make the integration as smooth as possible. She assured team
members that she would meet with them and keep everyone in the
loop. Soon, however, Jane was being pulled into meetings with
her new boss, leaving her direct reports without a leader. She
was also traveling more. She sent emails, assuring everyone that
all was well and promising to get back to them later.
Jane thought she was being a good leader. She was absorbed by
what she felt was the most important priority - getting the
story of the new merger clear with her boss. But the mixed
message of assurances to her direct reports and her
unavailability proved destructive.
Within a short time, her team was disconnected from the
acquisition activities. They started to talk to people
throughout the company, and got more mixed messages about what
was going on. Within a few months, rumors of worst-case
scenarios (bad acquisition; culture conflicts) began to
circulate.
As fear took hold, employees:
- Began to distrust Jane's leadership capability - Turned to
other leaders outside her team for advice and information -
Created concentric circles of communication (gossiped), building
mountains out of molehills
As a further consequence:
- Performance in the team went down - Jane felt disappointed -
Jane grew angry with team members whom she perceived as no
longer committed to their jobs - What Jane overlooked is that
our sense of security and well-being is profoundly affected by
how much we are kept in the loop; in the absence of clear,
consistent and regular communication from the leader, fear takes
over.
Employee fear takes hold when people in positions of authority
are suddenly behind closed doors, speaking in hushed tones,
refusing to address rumors directly and so on.
Ironically, this attempt to avoid communication conveys a very
clear message: Something is brewing that is so bad that the boss
is afraid to talk about it.
That, surely, is not what the boss intended. Indeed, Jane was
doing everything she could to make sure her team, her direct
reports, would continue to have a key role and that the lives of
her employees would not be disrupted.
The lesson: A great leader is able to put herself in someone
else's shoes--to see how certain actions (or a lack of actions)
look from the employee's point of view. We call this empathy. In
being empathic, the leader creates a sense of calmness and
control that sustains a sense of forward movement, security and
direction. Unless the leader sets a clear and explicit context
for this type of communication and communicates often, employees
are left with little choice but to create their own "worst case
scenarios."
What elevates Fear?
- Lack of shared focus, purpose and vision. This creates
confusion - Lack of company-wide communication, which opens the
door to paranoia (the ultimate fear response). - Lack of
interpersonal communication causes a negative emotional response
on the part of the individual. If you can't speak directly to
every worker, make sure a supervisor does. Business leaders make
a mistake when they don't take into account the emotions of
their staffs. Positive emotional connection isn't just something
that feels good, it is good for business. Negative emotional
response is destructive. - Lack of respect for others within the
organization. That undermines security, causing
resentment--another form of fear. - Failure to develop team
agreements, strategies and decision-making policies. This
increases isolation and leads to fear. - Negativity and
complaining, which become both the cause and effect of fear
TIPS FOR LEADERS:
When having vital conversations about the future and the
organization's direction, make sure you are listening. Repeat
what employees say and ask questions. Listen to the logic and
the emotion (pay attention to their mixed messages!).
Pay attention to the subtext--what is implied by the questions.
Become an expert at clarifying what employees are saying before
drawing conclusions and making assumptions that may be
erroneous. Keep asking questions until you get to the real
message that the employee is trying to convey.
Keep an open mind. Even if you disagree with what is being said,
your listening shows the employee respect and helps you
understand employee concerns. Remember emotions don't always
reside in logic. Fear is an emotional response that you can
avoid.
Evaluate information without bias
Respond rather than react. Show the employee that his or her
concerns are valid.
Accept responsibility for the impact of the way you are
communicating with others
WALK the TALK. Say what you mean and MEAN what you say. That
will build trust and eliminate fear.
Understand how unspoken fear can affect your business and deal
with it by unraveling meta messages. It will have an immediate
bottom line payoff.
Employees who know where they stand can accept whatever reality
the ups and downs of business bring to your company--and they
can be OK with that.
Judith E. Glaser, CEO of Benchmark Communications, Inc. and
author of Creating WE: Change I-Thinking to We-Thinking & Build
a Healthy Thriving Organization; Platinum Press, 2005. Selected
as one of the best business books of 2005. www.creatingwe.com;
and The DNA of Leadership, February 2006; 212-307-4386.
Nancy Snell, CEC, is a certified professional business coach
with a broadcasting career that spanned 25+ years. She
specializes in workplace issues and coaches professionals who
are ready to get unblocked, unfrustrated and on track. Nancy
served as a Director on the Board of the NYC - ICF in 2005.
www.nancysnell.com 212-517-6488