Fear At Work

In my experience, fear IS present. And

In my experience, fear IS present. And it's, above all, fear of failing.

This leads to the standard 'analysis paralysis' organizational patter.

PierG

Fear comes in many shapes in

Fear comes in many shapes in sizes.

I think the statement -- "I don't think fear is a huge issue" -- is a gross generalization. I think the author is addressing one specific type of fear and considering this specific type of fear a "non-factor" in this isolated case . . .

This is how I read it . . .

I do believe fear is a huge motivating factor in the workplace. A better question would be "Which fear?" Fear of losing your job?, Fear of looking bad in your industry? Fear of looking bad in your social circle? Fear of looking bad as the bread winner for your family?

Cheers,
Steve

Fear is top 3 (if not #1). Fear

Fear is top 3 (if not #1). Fear of:

-Discovering one's "deficiencies" - looking dumb
-Failure
-Getting fired
-Losing a promotion
-Missing a deadline...then looking dumb
-Getting yelled at
-Poor annual review
-Dwindling career
-etc etc

Yep, fear is big. As a manager, I try to address the irrelevant fears in hopes that people are motivated by more positive outcomes.

Psychologically fear in all of us goes

Psychologically fear in all of us goes back to the caveman and is certainly present in all primates. Fear of being abandoned by the clan, fear of being eaten by the lion, fear of not having enough food. Fear on various levels is literally in our DNA. Fear is not always bad. Fear is what contributes to motivation, creativity, etc. Fear has to be channeled and not allowed to overwhelm us if it's going to have any sort of a positive contribution.

From author Robert Burton (you won't

From author Robert Burton (you won't find his latest release anywhere:): "The fear of some divine and supreme powers keeps men in obedience." Fear is a pretty big issue in the workplace as I see at my clients (I'm in HR Outsourcing) - much of the change I advertise will change in their lives. In a company I'm familiar with, fear has become a large shadow from which most EEs can't seem to escape. Again, much has changed at this company over the last years, including things like no bonuses, sinking equity, and layoffs. Tangible things. Now, in my military and corporate career, I've seen "fear" translated into incredible performances (particulary the military, where the focus is on doing the best possible, thus having fear manifesting itself as accomlishment in response to many intangibles). In the corporate world, I see far more fear than accomplishment. It can contribute, as tg4dk says, but it seems to me that occurs in certain types of people (often called performers) who don't let it drive them to blind obedience.

I avoid using fear as a motivational

I avoid using fear as a motivational tool because it seems to make my team conservative when I need them to be liberally creative. That being said I do believe a little bit of fear provides an edge of inspiration and diligence. This fear is usually self imposed as artists are their own worst critics.

I worked for a manager who managed by

I worked for a manager who managed by fear and he was able to get the job done. That being said, the job done was usually mediocre and his team had high turn over and very low morale.

If fear (created by management or self imposed) is one of the primary motivators, people don't perform at their best. The fear becomes a distraction.

Fear is all through any company you

Fear is all through any company you name. It's not always obvious, it's not even talked about but it is there.

Fear is being used as a motivator by bosses, even when it's not. There is the axe that hangs over every employee. That axe can fall at any time - the better job you do, the more chance you can avoid it. This fear increases dramatically when the company releases bad news, someone else is laid off, or even management stating they are making changes!

Mark even mentioned a few 'casts ago of the fear (not stated that way, but that's the core emotion) that stopped one employee from wandering over to another part of the company to ask for help!

Unfortunately, using fear as a motivator has an upper limit. It will only work so far and either the person quits (metaphorically through absenteeism, or physically by leaving the job) or the motivator has to enact the thing most feared : docking pay or firing.

Yes, sometimes it does work. If that is your only choice to motivate, or used too much, or used with the wrong type of person, it will ruin any other chance to motivate.

All- I hope we get more comments

All-

I hope we get more comments like this.

I have to say, I think fear is both terribly destructive at work, and so prevalent and pervasive it is a pandemic in organizations.

I think lack of professional communication is one of its core drivers.

Mark

our ceo tends to pit teams and managers

our ceo tends to pit teams and managers against one another. These teams accomplished a great deal and have achieved many successes but it seems everyone is afraid and unhappy. Do the ends justify the means?

The ends never justify the

The ends never justify the means.

That said, healthy competition probably is a good thing. Sounds like your CEO doesn't understand the negatives - maybe he's seen that sort of competition work, but it's not doing its best in its present form.

A lot of the time I want to ask, "what actually happens - not rumors, not innuendo, not extrapolation - to those who don't win? Surely some of your org have won in the career advancement sense but had some losses along the way? I suspect so... and then maybe... just maybe... the fear is TRULY....: False Expectations Appearing Real.

I probably wouldn't do it... but I wouldn't rule it out immediately, either.

Mark

I "fear" I may be adding this comment

I "fear" I may be adding this comment too late...For those of you with access to old versions of HBR, check out the July 2002 issue. In it you'll find an article by Roderick M. Kramer entitled "When Paranoia Makes Sense". A different yet very appropriate perspective.

Greg- Okay, even us subscribers

Greg-

Okay, even us subscribers probably don't have that issue!! :-) Can you save me the $6 and tell me what the perspective is?

Mark

Yes, of course...sorry about that.

Yes, of course...sorry about that.

"You know that little voice inside your head that keeps telling you to be worried - about your boss, your subordinates, your collegaues? Start listening to it". So says Roderick M. Kramer in his article on paranoia and fear in the office. Using the monumetal change in trust after 9/11 and Enron scandal as a backdrop (decreased trust, increased vulnerability), Kramer begins by discussing the negative impacts of not trusting, or paranoia: "we fret over office politics, our decision making becomes distorted, and the whole organization suffers. When we start fearing and avoiding (rather than trusting and cooperating with) people we work and compete with, we enter a world of impoverished zero-sum games and escalating arms races". He is clearly correct when he states that paranoia can poison the workplace. He then postulates that a "moderate form of suspicion...prudent paranoia" may in fact be healthy.

Kramer acknowledges that some may find his use of the word "paranoia" too negative. He further states that much of our understanding of paranoia comes from famous "clinical" examples of paranoids such as John Nash, th 1994 winner of the Nobel prize in economics. That is not what he wants us to take from his study.

Paranoia is prudent when it is used to constructively assess the dangers we face in the workplace and subsequently act to find more information regarding our situations. It can serve "as a healthy defense against an outside threat". People find themsleves in situations they find disturbing to them (not involved in deals or meetings they used to attend, for example) and act to counter a lack of information in order to better understand what may be threatening their interests or causing the "disturbing" situation. That can be a positive thing. The negative side of the coin is the paralysis that can occur due to new and numerous suspicions. The "prudently paranoid are most vulnerable when all the hard evidence seems to contradict their nagging suspicions"; people in power he says can be clever and disguise many things.

Kramer makes a very interesting point re: trust. His studies show that 80% of all executives states they had made a mistake by trusting the wrong person at the wrong time. Something to think about...

The article continues to discuss things like creating paranoia on purpose, and he gives examples of Andy Grove's approach to paranoia as well as Steve Jobs' use of it to rally his employees.

In the end, it's easy to become paranoid, but far more difficult to understand when it can be helpful. My advice: step back, take a deep breath, and do the right things because they're the right things to do even when nobody is looking, not because your motiviation is overwhelmingly fear/paranoia-based. Chances are somebody IS looking - use it to your advantage. Easy to preach, hard to practice.

My apologies to Mr. Kramer if I have skewed his hypothesis (hence all the quotes). I hope this is worth the $6 :)

Greg- Wow! Thanks for all that work

Greg-

Wow! Thanks for all that work (and typing).

My thought is that 90% of managers I know are so beyond "prudent paranoia" that scaling back and trusting themselves is probably a good idea.

Thoughts?

Mark

My "advice" in my last blog was directy

My "advice" in my last blog was directy influenced by Mark's most recent comment on Drucker. My comment was meant to imply that taking a step back to ensure they (managers) have assessed a situation correctly is THE prudent thing to do...it doesn't mean navel gaze, and it certainly doesn't mean it is done for its own sake, just to say you took a step back...As a manager, and given the environment I find myself in, a little paranoia has been helpful: Are we really where we say we are with our project? Is the client being open? What other influences is the client under? Our team? Maybe that's just me stepping back to assess, then determine, what is the "best thing" to do next.

A Drucker quote (taken from a 12th century German proverb) I find applicable here: "Don't go to near your prince unless he calls twice. Go ahead and do things...you don't ask for permission because that implies the other fellow can say no." So, yeah, scale back. Take a risk. Managers, you aren't snipers - you're supposed to lead and you can't do that if you don't take the risk of trusting yourself more often. Maybe that's a difference between a manager and a leader.

Upon review...I wanted to clarify my

Upon review...I wanted to clarify my "sniper" comment...I wasn't trying to lecture managers. My point was to illustrate we aren't lone rangers, and our assignment is not to take others down. Rather, we should all strive to bring out excellent in others, even if we make mistakes. My apologies if I came across as lecturing. Thanks!

Greg- You didn't. Some managers ARE

Greg-

You didn't. Some managers ARE snipers, too.

Mark

I fear. I fear going to work in the

I fear.

I fear going to work in the mornings. I fear going to sleep because it makes tomorrow that much closer. I fear the random pain my co-worker will hurl upon me for no apparent reason. I fear the non-random pain she will put upon me for anything I do right, anythign I do wrong, and anything I do mediocre.

How you feel is okay. It's your

How you feel is okay. It's your manager's job to understand you, do their best to reduce (in an economical way) the causes of some of your fears, and thereby in prat create a place for you to succeed. It's your job to have the courage to achieve in spite of your fears, because courage isn't the absence of fear, but acting in spite of it.

Good luck.

Mark