Fear based work place. Fear is the main energy here. At first, I thought the problem was me. Maybe I didn’t have the right clothes or know the right business jargon. I walked on eggshells at work. I went home anxious and discouraged every night. Gradually it dawned on me that it wasn’t just me. My co-workers were uptight, too. No one was having a good time in our workplace. What made everyone so nervous and fearful?
It was leaders that lacked confidence. Confident leaders trust themselves enough to hire people they can trust. They don’t watch their employees like hawks. They don’t enact rules and policies to cover every situation, because they know their employees will rise to every challenge.
They don’t set up control mechanisms to keep people from using their native smarts and ingenuity. They don’t measure every keystroke and every minute spent on any activity.
They know that focusing on their mission and big, shared goals is a million times more important than measuring everything in sight.
Lots of policies and yardsticks everywhere are the signs of this fear-based workplace. Measurement of non-essential things is the first sign of a workplace ruled by fear. And this place has it.
In a fear-based workplace, everyone is focused on their daily goals. They have to be because if they miss a goal, they could lose their job. You won’t get collaboration or innovation out of people who are scared to death! And this is what happens here.
Managers specialize in assigning work, measuring results, punishing infractions and maintaining order. In a healthy culture, managers specialize in listening to employees, problem-solving with them, celebrating successes and envisioning even greater successes! This does not happen here no success celebrated. It’s what have you done for me right now.
Here people are afraid to tell the truth because they already know no one wants to hear it. How do I know this? It’s obvious, because the biggest truth of all – namely, “Our culture is horrible, but bad things happen to people who say so” is never acknowledged. It is the elephant in the room.
People talk incessantly about who’s up and who’s down in the company stock index. The rumor mill is more credible than official communication. In a healthy company, managers and employees talk about sticky topics. They don’t avoid them just because they are awkward to address. They think they talk about them but they don’t. They give stock answers of it’s rapidly moving company because we are moving fast and growing. Acquiring other companies is not growth. We are not growing where we need to be.
Employees wonder whether they’ll still have a job next week. A great performance review or an on-the-job triumph does not guarantee anyone another week of employment. People work under a cloud of fear and suspicion.
Following rules and avoiding blame are every employees’ top priorities. Collaborating, experimenting and having fun do not make the list. If there is a company mission statement on the wall, no one cares about it: the only mission employees can focus on is “Don’t screw up! And sale or you are gone!
Managers talk about collaboration and out-of-the-box thinking but no one takes them seriously. They have already decided how to do it, their way because they know what works for a company that they have been at less then a year and think they know more then the people that have been doing this far longer. You cannot get collaboration or new ideas from beaten-down employees especially when you know they won’t listen.
Employees disappear without warning. When someone disappears, people speak their names in whispers if they mention them at all. The only way to find out if someone is gone is by rumor mill even if your job requires interaction with them.
The smartest and most capable employees don’t get promoted. If any do internally. The people who get promoted are the ones who most wholeheartedly embrace the fear-based culture or is friends and family with leadership.
The hardest thing to do here is to stay human. When you keep your sense of humor, your warmth and your confidence despite the cloud of fear, you can expect to be labeled ‘unprofessional’ or worse, lose your job. You have to become Corporate Charlie to survive. You can stand up for yourself and your co-workers but if you do, you have to be ready to get a job fast if you are pushed out the door for naming the elephant.
In this culture your manager may throw up their hands and say ”I agree with the points you’re making, but there’s nothing I can do to change things! We just have to put up with it and do our best.” Even though a lot of time and energy will result in waste and unsuccessful attempts to get done what needs to be done.
