The best things in life are free. Breathing fresh air. A walk on the beach. Being hugged by a loved one. Hearing the words “I am sorry” or “I love you”. Yet, often we measure our worth by the things we have, rather than the experiences we share. Our view of productivity tends to be similar. We often look at expensive, high-tech tools to increase and measure productivity, overlooking the free and readily accessible low-tech solutions available to us. One of these overlooked solutions is changing behaviours and specifically the impact of fear on productivity.
Behaviours have more influence on productivity than any technology tool I’ve encountered. Ultimately, it is the people who use, implement and support the tools. When they lack motivation or don’t believe in the tool, they will often sabotage or misuse it.
Garbage in, Garbage out
The best systems and tools in the world are as good as the data that goes into them. It’s the behaviours, not the tools, that make a tool or process productive or not.
Behaviours either support or impede people from producing more with fewer resources. Behaviours that encourage productivity improvements include respect, trust, compassion, forgiveness, and Transparency. They build an engaged and motivated workforce that is willing to do whatever it takes to overcome obstacles and eliminate bottlenecks. A motivated and engaged team can do anything. They will go the extra mile to make miracles happen.
The Biggest Impediment To Productive Teams
Compared to the best technology in the world, motivation as a productivity tool outperforms technology of any kind by a considerable margin. After all, it is people who build technology. Motivated teams build high-quality technology. Demotivated teams build in errors, get the requirements wrong and solve the wrong problems. They experience the impact of fear on productivity.
Many behaviours demotivate and impact productivity. The biggest impediment by far impacting productivity and motivation is fear. When people feel unsafe, they can’t perform at their optimum levels. In a motivated space, energy is focused on problem-solving and creativity; in a fear-driven environment, energy is spent on defending and protecting oneself.
Some of the reasons not to manage by control and fear include:
1. Fear distracts you from your productive work
When managed by fear, employees focus on staying safe. They spend time gathering evidence to protect themselves from any possible disciplinary actions. The time that could have been spent producing results is spent searching for evidence to protect them from perceived danger.
2. Fear increases the need for switching between tasks
Employees managed using fear tend to switch between tasks more frequently, in an attempt to appear more productive than they are.
They, for example, spend time on the internet, which might look unproductive at a glance, but ultimately supports their productivity. They don’t stop doing the tasks not directly assigned to them; they find ways to do it secretly. Additionally, they attempt to hide it from their manager and switch to more productive work whenever the manager walks past.
Each time they switch between tasks, they require extra time to refocus their attention on the new task, thereby decreasing their productivity.
3. Fear limits creative thinking and problem-solving ability
When people are afraid of being reprimanded or fired for making a mistake, they tend to refrain from proposing solutions. They are unable to think clearly, let alone creatively, fearing they might be punished for not producing the results exactly as the manager wants them.
4. Fear is debilitating, causing you to be less productive
In extreme situations, fear can be debilitating, rendering an employee unable to do any work, fully realising the impact of fear on productivity.
5. Fear increases doubt
People who feel unsafe tend to doubt themselves. They might know the right thing to do, but will refrain from taking action because they are not sure whether the action will be punished or rewarded.
6. Fear causes procrastination
Fear causes people to procrastinate, as they are unwilling to move forward because they fear taking the wrong action or asking the wrong question. They would rather spend time and energy finding ways to look busy than risk doing something they are not 100% sure will be accepted.
7. Fear breaks down and inhibits communication
Probably the biggest disadvantage of managing fear is a breakdown in communication. People are afraid to raise issues, point out gaps or errors in the process, and ask questions. They will spend time doing the wrong work, rather than clarifying an issue.
This impacts productivity not only directly, by preventing productive work, but also indirectly, by requiring you to redo the same work at a later stage.
8. Fear hides problems
When problems are visible, they can be addressed and fixed. When people are afraid to raise issues, they tend to spend their energy trying to hide them. That doesn’t mean that the problem goes away; it merely means it will most probably remain undiscovered until a customer discovers it. This impacts both the productivity and the reputation of the organisation.
9. Fear confuses by blurring the goal
When people are afraid, their perception becomes limited. Their fear will drive them to take the first action right in front of them, without spending the time to consider whether this helps them achieve their goal or not. The more they act without thinking, the more blurred the goal becomes until finally, everyone is confused and unproductive.
10. Fear lowers motivation
You can only feel one emotion at a time, just as you can only focus on one task at a time. When someone experiences fear, they’re not able to feel motivated.
On the emotional scale, moving downwards, towards the more negative emotions, is much easier than moving up towards positivity. Fear thus lowers motivation and makes it significantly harder to regain the same level of motivation as before.
Driving out Fear
Dr Deming, the father of Quality evolution, developed a list of 14 principles of management to enhance the effectiveness of a business. These principles form the foundation of the Toyota Way, a philosophy and methodology that Toyota follows, which is the reason for its transformation from near bankruptcy to one of the highest-performing and most respected businesses in the world.
One of his 14 principles for an effective and productive business is to drive out fear.
“We must preserve the power of intrinsic motivation, dignity, cooperation, curiosity, joy in learning, that people are born with.” – Dr W Edwards Deming.
Dr Deming believed that a problem can only be solved when you are aware of it. He also believed that the people who know what’s going on are the people doing the work. It is thus crucial to create a safe environment where the people on the ground feel free to express their ideas and voice potential problems.
How To Drive Out Fear
Driving out fear requires a cultural change within the organisation’s leadership. Eventually, it will minimise the impact of fear on productivity. It requires, above all, courage. Courage to be honest. Courage to look at problems. Finally, the courage to attempt to change. Driving out fear requires building a psychologically safe environment. At the heart of psychological safety are authenticity and integrity. Here are a few guidelines to drive out fear:
1. Clarify the vision and objectives
When everyone is clear and agrees on the organisation’s vision, conflict can be easily resolved, creating a safe environment in which to raise issues. Shift the focus from perceiving issues as a personal attack on you as a leader to bulletproofing the solution in an attempt to reach a shared goal.
2. Make information accessible
The easiest and most effective way to remove fear is to make information accessible. When people have access to information, they spend less time searching for it and are less likely to make mistakes as a result of not having access to it.
3. Clarify rules and expectations explicitly
People want to succeed. They fail to meet expectations because the rules are unclear, or they lack the necessary competence. When rules are made clear, people are more likely to abide by them and spend less time wondering what is expected of them or doing what they think is expected.
4. Be consistent in your actions
Probably the biggest cause of fear is inconsistency in the leader’s actions. Changing the rules without a clear reason, favouritism, and elitism are all examples of inconsistency.
Being consistent makes you more predictable, and when you are predictable, employees can relax enough to focus their effort and time on productive work, without worrying about how you will behave.
5. Be transparent and explain decisions explicitly
Transparency is about being open. Open to receive criticism. Open to listening to ideas. Additionally, I am open to expressing thoughts and ideas. People fear a leader when they are unsure of what the leader is thinking. Remove any assumptions or worst-case scenarios by expressing what you think about a given situation or idea in real-time.
When you demonstrate that you are open to new ideas, people will feel safe to raise problems or come to you with ideas to solve a problem.
6. Give feedback – both positive and negative
Many managers want to be liked. They are there for you when things go well, but the moment negative feedback needs to be given or a conflict needs to be resolved, they walk away. They outsource people’s issues to Human Resources to deal with, or worse, avoid them.
When people know what they are doing right, they will do more of that. When they know what they are doing wrong, they will attempt to change it. Accurate and constructive feedback is the single biggest tool to ensure that each step taken is in the right direction.
7. Acknowledge your mistakes
Perfection is a waste. The more human you are, the more accessible and trustworthy you are. When you, as a leader, are willing to acknowledge your mistakes and be vulnerable, you permit people to make mistakes as well. This reduces the fear of not being perfect.
Read more about why not knowing all the answers makes you a better leader.
8. Allow other people to make mistakes
Rather than trying to prevent them from making mistakes, provide a safe environment where they can fail without the negative consequences of an unintended mistake. Focus on the solution and positive intent, not the problem. When people feel safe to fail, they are also safe to innovate and solve problems proactively.
9. Be fair
Listen to both sides of the story before making a judgment. Make judgments based on and aligned with the vision and objectives, as well as their impact on the organisation.
10. Demonstrate integrity
Say what you do and do what you say. Always. Integrity demonstrates alignment between your actions and the organisational vision and goals. The more aligned you are, the more productive you are.
Fear is a productivity killer.
The impact of fear on productivity is a silent yet deadly force. It kills motivation, creativity, and productivity. To create a productive environment, drive out fear by making information accessible, being explicit about expectations and listening without judgment.
