How to eliminate fear at working Place

By Dr.Mahboob ali khan Phd

Fear can be a pretty powerful motivator, but it can also be destructive. Yes,

today‘s unemployment figures can make every day at the office feel like a cliff-

hanger, but the reality is that fear exists in the good times as well as the bad. As

human beings, we want to do a good job and we‘re essential afraid of doing

badly. Afraid of losing our jobs, being demoted, or just disappointing the boss.

We have all seen it before. The boss or a high-level manager walks into a

meeting where employees are engaged in a lively discussion about a work issue.

Suddenly, a shift occurs – the conversation changes as many employees fall

silent; others become timid and more acquiescent.

Many years ago, some managers considered it a good sign that employees

―knew their place,‖ believing that fear resulted in employees working harder.

This old school thinking does not hold up today. In fact, this type of behaviour

is often the death knell for today‘s modern organization.

Fear can come from many different factors, including:

fear of change or ambiguity

fear of the consequences from not achieving a task/goal

fear of losing one‘s job or a poor performance appraisal

fear of looking foolish or making a mistake

fear of an individual such as a boss, manager or even other co-workers

A work environment where employees experience fear can be debilitating and

can negatively affect their performance and, thus, the entire organization. While

it can produce bursts of performance in the short term, it does not lead to long-

lasting results. This is because fear ultimately stifles creativity and decreases

employees‘ trust and willingness to speak up, take risks and try new things. Fear

also prevents employees from learning from their mistakes, so it dooms them

and the organization to repeat the same errors over and over again.

Perhaps most debilitating is that fear-based management cultures foster short-

term thinking as people become defensive, search to avoid reprisal and focus on

eliminating real or perceived threats instead of working collaboratively toward

the desired outcomes.

It is safe to say that nearly all of us have, at some time, experienced fear in the

workplace. While it may never be totally eliminated, management‘s aim should

be to decrease it and manage it overall.

Dealing with the issue of fear at work is the responsibility of management, but

to do so requires leaders to do an honest assessment of their present work

environment and their own management style. As a leader, if you have any

doubt as to whether fear exists in your workplace, here are a few ideas to

consider:

Listen to and observe how employees behave in meetings. Meetings

provide many cultural clues to what is acceptable work behaviour.

Ensure that your managers make it a habit to catch employees doing

something right rather than a game of ―gotcha‖ – that is, catching

employees doing something wrong. We guarantee the latter approach will

result in a defensive, fear-ridden work environment.

Talk to employees or managers who will be straight with you about their

observations on this issue and ask them a few questions:

1. To what degree are our employees encouraged to innovate vs. conform?

2. To what degree is dissent tolerated in the workplace?

3. What happens when mistakes occur at work? How does leadership

respond?

When mistakes occur at work, rather than getting upset and reprimanding the

employee, first look in the mirror and determine what your role has been in the

failure. Were expectations unclear? Was a faulty system or process in place?

Then sit down and ask the employee what happened and what he or she thinks

could be done to prevent it in the future.

When people do speak up and talk about mistakes or problems, managers must

listen, acknowledge they hear what was said and collect the real facts before

assigning blame. While it is all too human to respond too quickly and overreact,

an effective leader that manages fear is patient and understanding.

Most importantly, managers must be willing to share their own mistakes. This

sends an important message that mistakes are considered opportunities for

learning. Leaders must set the tone that when no mistakes or mishaps are

reported, they are skeptical. Managers must never ―kill the messenger‖; rather,

they should be rewarded.

Driving the fear out of the workplace is essential to unleashing employees‘

potential, confidence and innovation – vital ingredients to a thriving, successful

business.

I believe We are a company made up of people who are good communicators

and also possess strong personalities, two traits that often do not mix well.

Problems that arise are addressed from a standpoint of ‗What sorts of ways can

we do this better?‘ and ‗How can we assure this doesn‘t happen again?‘ When a

miscommunication happens, we first think of ways to fix the problem, develop a

new system, or be innovative in changing our approach. Staff are not blamed or

embarrassed when a mistake happens; it is simply fixed and then we move on.

This speaks to the culture of the company, one that is progressive, moves ahead

and looks to the future. We all care too much and work too hard to spend time

on the ‗ad nauseam‘ end of business, and all work to support each other and see

the company succeed.‖

Back in the mid-‘90s, when Nick Leeson was the general manager of the

Singapore office of a British investment bank called Barings, one of his

underlings made an error that cost the company $30,000. Leeson decided not to

report it. He tried to hide the loss in a secret account instead. He figured he

could make up the difference with a little trading of his own. He bet that the

Nikkei would go down; it went up. He bet that Japanese government bonds

would go up; they went down. Playing double or nothing time and again,

Leeson compounded his predicament—raising the deficit from $30K to $30

million to $200 million. He ultimately rolled up $1.3 billion in losses, driving

Barings out of business.

The first, and most obvious lesson here is that transparency is always key. In

other words, don‘t lie. That may seem like a simple almost childish rule, but

it‘s essential. Leeson was trying to hide a mistake and ended up making the

situation worse. If he had come clean, the situation would have been much

better for him and for his company.

But the story raises some important questions. Why was his fear so great that

he couldn‘t come clean about the mistake? Ultimately, we don‘t know what

forces were at work here, but clearly this is a situation to guard against as both

an employee and employer. Here are 4 ways to deal with fear at work and move

on:

1.) Tell the Truth but Present a Solution

Technically Leeson skipped the first part of this and went, not so successfully,

to the second. It‘s important to get the order right. Most companies hire people

not to be perfect, but to be human. And human‘s are pretty good at correcting

mistakes, solving problems, and getting ourselves out of the messes we got

into. Coming clean with a mistake, accepting responsibility, and presenting a

solution shows your true value to an organization.

2.) Manage Expectations

This doesn‘t mean lowering your standards, but it does mean laying out realistic

scenerios for success and failure. Make sure that your boss understands and

agrees with your plan of attack and understands the possible downsides. Don‘t

ever expect a boss to be ‗OK‘ with failure, but do lay out the possibility of it

happening.

3.) Don‘t Let Fear Be Your Primary Motivator

Fear can be a terrific motivator if you‘re running from a tiger. But it‘s probably

not a great way of driving success in the workplace. As the example above

proves, fear of a modest failure can lead to something catastrophic. Fear as a

motivator just leads to some poor choices and ultimately escalates. Success as a

motivator ususally involved short and long term goals, acheivement, and

celebration.

4.) Take a Breath, Excercise, Spend Time with Your Family

In other words, relax a little. Most of us say that these things are important, but

we seldom truly invest in them. Stepping a way from an issue at work, even for

an hour, can help bring clarity to a situation and put it into context. Most of us

are not making life and death decisions at work and most problems can be

solved. Put problems into context. They will still be problems, but you won‘t

feel like a tiger is nipping at your heels.

5.) For Bosses Only: Creating an Atmosphere of Fear is Counterproductive

While having a hard line policy of no toleration for mistakes may seem like a

viable leadership technique, it can leave you vulnerable to lower productivity,

high turnaround rates, and a non-transparent culture at work. It your job to lead

and motivate employees, not tally and judge their mistakes. Why was the

mistake made? How are we going to fix it? What can be learned from

it? These are helpful questions that, when answered, will help employees.

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