Fearful Organisations

And why this is problematic

Many leaders and organisations seem to not be able to avoid using fear as a tactic to “motivate” and engage employees. A pretty bad idea as we will show.

A number of years ago I remember the CEO of a major corporation I had a lot to do with being replaced. As is usual the dynamics within the organisation changed to reflect the new CEO but what was noticeable is that, almost overnight, fear increased in the organisation. This was tangible and yet subtle. Subtle in the sense that the CEO had not made any grand frightening or threatening statements – the shift was tangible because of his attitude and a number of replacements, but mostly due to how he had interacted with various stakeholders and staff at different levels. This feeling of fear seemed to sweep over HQ and was noticeable in the coaching conversations I was having with various leaders in the organisation. It was also present in increased anxiety and stress in the organisation.

This is a common theme in many organisations and in this case probably not even intentional. But fear was present, and it was impacting the organisation. The two questions we need to answer is why does this happen, and is there a case for fear in the organisation?