Fear and anxiety
We have all heard of a “culture of fear”, but does fear really exist in our organisations?
Fear
Fear is a physical response danger, a reaction to an immediate issue that threatens your safety and security. It is fear that overcomes you when you are walking home late at night, all by yourself and somebody starts to follow you. Fear causes you to: run and hide, freeze, panic and fight.
Fear is a very intense emotion. Fortunately, I’ve never experienced fear at work.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological response to perceived danger. It is a feeling of foreboding, worry or unease.
Anxiety is more gradual and subtle than fear. The causes of Anxiety are rarely specific, a veiled threat, an implied sanction, words that are unsaid.
Anxiety is debilitating.
Anxiety is fear’s pernicious cousin, and it is alive and well in many organisations.
The source of fear and anxiety
Fear or anxiety? Perhaps it is a pointless debate. A more useful question is where does it come from?
In our businesses, anxiety is caused by pressure to do more and constant reminders of the implications of failure. Anxiety is fuelled by a lack of support and being kept in the dark.
In a corporate setting, fear and anxiety come from one source, an overbearing boss. The more senior the boss, the more anxiety he will create.
What does anxiety do for your business?
A little short-term stress can be a good thing — I don’t achieve anything unless I am working to a deadline — but in the long-term, anxiety at work is caustic:
- It kills creativity, why try anything risky?
- People hide problems, they don’t admit anything is wrong.
- There are high levels of absenteeism.
- Presenteeism rises (the wheel might be turning but the hamster has long gone).
- Anybody who can get a job elsewhere will get a job elsewhere.
- Productivity tanks – more time is spent finger-pointing and back biting than resolving problems.
- Compliance levels are high, but sheep-like.
- And people don’t speak up to make things better.
Anxiety cripples organisations. Coercion, threat and fear may result in a short-term uplift as people try to avoid unpleasant consequences. But fear will always backfire.
Like cancer, anxiety seeps through organisations, gradually stifling them.
How do you know if you have a culture of anxiety?
Let’s be honest, you know. But if you need some symptoms try these for size:
- Silence in meetings but lots of talk outside them.
- People follow the rules – rigidly.
- Appraisals flow one way.
- There are wistful discussions about “packages” and getting laid off.
- Email cc lists grow and grow.
- Nobody makes a decision.
- Pre-meetings about meetings are the norm.
- There is lots of talk about accountability.
- Data is hoarded, information isn’t shared.
- The credit is stolen.
How many symptoms do you need to diagnose an anxiety infestation? Anxiety is the ultimate culture killer.
How do you remove anxiety?
You can only kill anxiety from the top, but doing so is easy, just remove the source:
- Make 360 degree appraisals count. If you ask for employees’ opinions, act on them.
- Kill the status symbols. Fancy offices and executive dining rooms do nothing for trust.
- Share information freely, profit numbers, sales volumes, pay scales. Who does hiding them help?
- Remove the titles. Do your “senior executive vice presidents’” egos need building?
- Seek the truth. Your business needs problem solvers not people pleasers.
- Cull the rulebook. You will not succeed or fail on your expense policy.
- Stop enforcing targets. Target setting is a lousy improvement method.
- Start having conversations about how managers can help make things better.
- Measure systems not people. Systems won’t hide anything.
- Make pay scales transparent. People who feel fairly treated don’t act scared.
If people feel fairly treated they will give far more.
And if you can’t remove the anxiety
Find another job, working where you are is just bad for your health.
Cold comfort
Employees and managers fear very similar things.
The man upstairs who is making your life a misery has spent his career people pleasing, watching for threats and chasing perfection. He craves credibility, self-esteem, inclusion and control. If he is bullying you it is simply because he is scared for his job. Imagine how he sleeps.
Author: Jonty Pearce
Published On: 11th Apr 2016 - Last modified: 13th Nov 2018
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