By Declan Noone
Fear is one of our most primal emotions which so heavily impacts our survival instincts. It has helped us evolve and survive as a species and as such is an important influencer of our evolution. It does however, have a significant impact on our physiology and consequently our behaviours.
The conversations I have had over the last 2 weeks on the topic of the coronavirus has highlighted the toxic impact of fear on behaviours and decision-making processes. The comments made by WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom at a daily briefing in Geneva on the 3rd of March, where he stated that, “We are concerned that countries’ abilities to respond are being compromised by the severe and increasing disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment … caused by rising demand, hoarding and misuse”[1] underscore this. So, the impact of hoarding and misuse is now resulting in a situation where supplies are rapidly depleting with the consequence of health workers not having sufficient protective masks and googles for fighting the Coronavirus. In other words, Fear is influencing a decision-making process and set of behaviours that are having a negative impact on the capacity of countries to address the challenges posed by this virus.
In organisations we can see the influence Fear has on creating a toxic work culture. A work culture where problems are hidden, not acknowledged and dealt with, but rather left to grow and expand to a point where they can have an impact on lives and financials. Boeing and the situation with the 737 Max is, I feel, an ideal example of where fear was a key influencing factor in the decision making process and its subsequent behaviour as an organisation. Fear of failure, fear of being caught out by regulators, fear of the impact on the bottom line. All lead to a series of decisions and behaviours that resulted in the delivery of an aircraft which had a flaw, that resulted in the loss of life. Consequently, it has impacted their share value, their profit projections, and their reputation.
How does fear impact your workplace culture?
- People become more risk averse, sticking to the letter of law and less inclined to operate outside of their parameters.
- There is less knowledge and information sharing as individuals seek to hold onto some level of power and influence as a desire to demonstrate that they are ‘needed’ and ‘important’.
- Increased disengagement levels.
- Increased absenteeism as people feel under treat, not valued and not trusted.
- Increased burnout rates and sick days as mental health issues become more prominent.
- Poor team culture where less support is present as individuals focus on their ‘needs’ over the ‘needs’ of the team.
- Less creativity.
- Increased turnover of staff.
What can you do as a Positive Leader?
Remain authentic to who you are. Do not change your leadership style due to changing circumstances. Doing so creates confusion and undermines your credibility as team members become uncertain as to who you really are. They start to doubt your sincerity, and trust in you.
Inclusive Decision Making: Outline the challenge faced, use the collective knowledge of the team drawing on their experiences and opinions to identify a solution or way forward. Doing so reinforces the sense of ‘being valued’ and ‘adding value’ which strengths the bonds they have with the team and you as a leader.
Transparency: Fear feeds off a lack of information. Retaining information is counter-productive. Share what you can, in a clear, open and transparent manner. The more information people have, the more actively they can participate in identifying a solution, and the more likely they are actively engage in the decision making process. This encourages taking ownership at the lowest levels rather than waiting to be told what to do. Waiting and inactivity is a fertile ground for misinformation, which in turn magnifies the negative, leading to destructive workplace behaviours.
Reinforce the Psychological safe space in the workplace. If team members feel accepted, respected and valued they more likely to actively invest in the development of a solution. This harnesses their collective strengths and abilities towards a shared purpose increasing the likelihood of success.
Stay safe and do not let Fear overcome your decision-making processes.
In Serrano 99 our Positive Leadership programmes introduces participants to the Positive Leader Toolkit. We provide participants with the opportunity for positive self-development focusing on emotions, empathy, compassion and behavioural decision making linked to pre-identified life skills and it includes enhanced capacity building in the form of use of design thinking, project management, team building, leading change and communication skills.
[1] https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2020/0303/1119856-coronavirus-world/
