HOW DID WE GET BACK TO FEAR?

HOW DID WE GET BACK TO FEAR??

I am hearing more stories about fear in organizations than I have for a long time.
We worked hard in the 80's at getting fear out of the way so that companies could flourish.

Quality circles.
Team building.
Straight talk.
Conflict resoluton.
Open door policies
360 degree feedback
Inclusive culture
Solid  people policies


These were not  soft skills.  They were approaches to eliminating fear of whimsical power and cronyism.  They were about an atmosphere of assumed fairness.  SO THAT PEOPLE COULD THINK ABOUT THE CUSTOMERS AND THE BUSINESS NOT THEMSELVES.  

Fear has seeped back into the workplace:

Will I be "down sized?"
Can I give my opinion or will I be punished?
Do I have to watch who I support or talk to?
Do I have to pick sides to be safe?
Am I doing a good enough job?  Does it matter if I am?
Does top leadership know how to take us into the future?
Do I have to be just a little bit dishonest to survive?
Do I have to protect myself and my resume all the time?
Do I have to agree with what I think is wrong?
Am I stupid to give 100% to this company?  Am i being a fool?
Do I have to commit to actions I think are wrong for the business?

Where did this fear come from?
Does economic down turn necessarily create a harsh punishing reality?
Are leaders scared or uncaring?

I want to go on the record as naive.
When the external world is a little or a lot scarey I think:

People won't be scared if they understand the business challenges in specific detail. 
People won't be scared if they make the decisions that will effect them --even laying off or eliminating positions.
People won't be scared if top leaders share in the pain of adjustment to a new reality.
People won't be scared if everyone sacrifices for the common good and no one is sacrificed.
People won't be scared if there is a steady hand on the tiller that knows how to navigate through the challenges.
People won't be scared if they are pulled together to get through a tough time
rather than splintered and isolated by rumors and special relationships.
People won't be scared if they are not threatened.

Tell me.  Where did this new wave of scare come from?

THE EXECUTIVE SKILL OF NURTURING


I've been thinking about the tone of today's companies:
-Almost hysterical action--go go go go go go.
-Overload, hopelessness about getting "it" done no matter how hard you work.
-Top leadership distant from the heart of the business.
-Disruptive solutions and ideas with no time to test the viability before a new one arrives.
-Accelerated hiring and firing trying to get "it" right
-No rest, very little validation

And you as top leader, may not see that your company needs a little nurture.
You, yourself, have probably learned to live without it and have forgotten that you could use a little yourself.  

Nurture feeds.
Nurture gives rest when needed
Nurture stays on the look out for danger or illness.
Nurture stays in touch and knows instinctively what is going on and what is needed.
Nurture enjoys caring.

If this all sounds a little too maternal just look at the definition of "nurture".
"to care for and encourage growth and development
 to provide what is necessary for health and welfare of an organism
 to nourish for growth"

Your Board should be all over you if you are not nurturing your organization.
I think most companies could use a little soothing and reassurance in order to keep giving their all.

I'm saying you may be blind to your own need for nurture and therefore are not giving it to your company and its people.

EVERYBODY WANTS TO DO A GOOD JOB

PEOPLE REALLY DO WANT TO DO A GOOD JOB AT WORK

I cringe a little as I write that because I can hear the counter arguments coming at me.
"Most people just want their paycheck"
"Many people don't care about the company--it's just a job."
"You don't know so and so who stole, sexually harassed, undermined, had an affair, embezzled."
"There will always be a few rotten potatoes."

Well, yes I do.  
In fact, I had to fire quite a few.
And in the firing, often found what had gotten rotten at work or at home.
And it was a sorry loss.

But I also saw the hurt and lost potential of many who:

Learned they couldn't trust top leadership's words
Never had a review and who were hungry for a little feedback and recognition
Saw a glaring double standard between top leadership and the "rest of the company"
Were managed as if they were recalcitrant children
Became cynical as espoused values became a laughing stock
Lost hope as harshness became the response to tough economics
Began to think their loyalty to the company was foolish, not smart

And I was lucky enough to see the opposite.
I saw the x factor of commitment and energy when:

People were talked to straight
Company challenges were put on the table for all to solve
Tough action like down-sizing was done collaboratively
Values were created through behavior not words
Idealism wasn't scorned as soft
Associates were given as much decision making impact as possible
Company direction made sense
Gains and losses were shared equally 
Work challenged the best in everyone

Don't let a blind spot (or perhaps, better put--a callus) develop simply because times are tough and you live between a constant rock and a hard place.
Start by assuming people want to do good work for you.
Then the questions are different.
How do you release it?
How do you trust it?
How do you lean into this fact rather than deny it?

It's a much healthier organizational stance with much more potential for
the x factor of achievement than the grim approach of thinking you have to tug behavior out of your people.

BE LOYAL TO THE COMPANY NOT TO INDIVIDUAL P

BE LOYAL TO THE COMPANY NOT TO INDIVIDUALS

I much prefer trust to loyalty when it comes to organizational health.
I have just experienced and watched clients experience the toppling of relationships when they are based on individual loyalty rather than on organizational loyalty. 

These are screechingly tough times of duress and rock and a hard place pressure.  There seems to be not-- "enough"--time, resources, market share,
labor, ideas--you name it. 

There is a lot of unexpressed fear and distrust.
So people hope to find safety and survival by joining forces which we call loyalty  which is certainly a soft term for a harsh reality.  Organizations develop fissures among teams and levels and departments.  People choose which party they belong to--Leader A or Leader B.  It's a bet on who will win.  It's almost like a silent civil war. 

The more the external pressure, the more the divisions stand in bold relief.  Down sizing, restructure falls along these fault lines.  Huge chunks of talent are lost to mistaken loyalty.  If only this loyalty could be to the company not to individuals.

It is one of the supreme tests of CEO character and skill to make loyalty to the organization strengthen in times of duress.  And it is a supreme CEO failure if loyalties (not loyalty) magnify division and bring the level of possible transcendence of differences down to the lowest common behavior of "me first".  I have seen long term working relationships and teams tattered when the CEO him or herself demands loyalty to themselves rather than the organization.
  
I hate it.  I hate the souring of people toward the company as loyalties shift.
I hate the lost of collaborative achievement in tough times.  I hate the common
crassness of selfish loyalty.  Loyalty should bring out the best in people not the worst.

So I opt for trust.  Reliability, strength, truth, ability. 
Loyalty scares me in today's organizations.