Date Published: 30th March 2011
Author: gordontraining
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After hearing the same lament about 100 times during exploratory interviews at a large electric utilities company on the East Coast, I was becoming very curious about the company’s big, new quality improvement program.
The company had spent millions of dollars implementing W. Edwards Deming’s 14 point Quality Improvement plan. This included a lot of leadership training, quality training, visits to Japan to see their famous Deming-based quality programs, etc. But, underlying the apparent management commitment to the process, there was a tone of skepticism.
Deming’s process required the company to do 14 things. If the company did all of those things well, they could expect good results. What I was hearing from interviewees was, “What we really have here is Deming’s 13 point plan. Ha, ha!” When I then asked, “O.K. which one is being left out?” they would always say, “Drive out fear.”
Deming sees management by fear as counter- productive in the long term, because it prevents workers from acting in the organization’s best interests. As the level of fear in the organization increases, lots of bad things begin to happen. Typical symptoms of a fear-based organization include:
• Withholding information. A common way to restore the perceived balance of power is to hide important information such as potential problems, dishonest behavior, new ideas, potential solutions to problems, etc.
• Retreat. People become less engaged. They don’t attend team functions, company sponsored events. They spend all of their time within their own cliques where they “grouse” about how bad the company is.
• Reduced discretionary effort. Employee motivation energy is directed toward discovering new ways to give the boss less rather than making extra effort to complete a project on time.
• Stress. There is more stress-related sickness, insurance claims, tardiness, absenteeism, etc.
• Errors. People make mistakes when they are anxious and worried.
• Finger pointing. People are less likely to be accountable and accept responsibility when they are afraid of being punished.
• Poor collaboration. People stop working together. The last thing you want to do is help someone else look good when you are afraid they are “out to get you.”
• No creativity. The only creativity exercised is that which is directed at finding new ways to get out of work or make the boss look bad.
• More activity but less productivity. People put in more and more hours but less and less work gets done.
• Game playing. Everyone learns how to look happy but secretly or unconsciously sabotage management’s efforts to make improvements.
Fear is a reaction to an assumption that you are in danger. You believe that if you take a certain action, or if circumstances go a certain way, something bad will happen to you. The assumption may or may not be rational. Sometimes the danger is real. Companies are downsizing. People are being laid off. Managers are, sometimes, looking for excuses to get rid of people. Sometimes people are, “out to get you.” As the old saying goes, “You’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you.”
According to W. Edwards Deming, in North America, fear is used as a prime motivator. Unfortunately, fear immobilizes and as long as an employee is paralyzed, no innovation is likely to happen.
Fear is also contagious. It can spread to all of a company’s initiatives. Thus when this principle is violated, it may interfere with other initiatives aimed at improving the organization’s performance.
Fear is not always a bad thing. Fear produces a heightened state of arousal that causes you to be extra vigilant. On the battlefield, during a crisis, when confronted with real threats, that preparedness can be an asset.
But sometimes the danger is only imagined. That doesn’t make the fear is any less real, less potent or less toxic. But, it does mean there is opportunity. If the organizations’ leaders want to reverse the effects of excessive fear, there are a number of steps they can take.
• Encourage effective two-way communication. Nothing is more dangerous to the performance of your organization than silence. Many of us are old enough to remember the Challenger disaster. Engineers at Morton Thiokol and NASA knew about problems with the O-rings but failed to tell their superiors. They were afraid to speak up. A culture where open communication was encouraged might have prevented the incident. So, even though it may sound like a cliché, leadership training that helps managers and team leaders learn more effective communication skills can be extremely important.
• Open the books. Don’t keep secrets unless there is some extremely important reason to do so. The more people know about their company, the more likely it is that they will care about what happens to it.
• Listen, listen, listen. The most frequently stated reason for leaving a job is that the employee doesn’t like his or her boss. The most common reason that the employee doesn’t like the boss is that the “boss” doesn’t listen. High employee turnover is very expensive. Listening is a skill that can be learned. Good leadership training will provide lots of time and effort on helping leaders learn good listening skills.
• Don’t skimp on employee development. One of the best ways to demonstrate your commitment to your team members is to encourage their development. Each team member should have a development plan and you should review it regularly and then make sure that it is followed.
• Tell the truth. Whether good or bad, your team members need to know what is going on. Little by little, as you consistently respond truthfully and fully to their concerns, they will learn to believe what you say.
• Give honest, direct feedback. Team members have a right to know where they stand. Many managers have a tendency to hold back when it comes to negative feedback. Some even withhold feedback and “save it” for the performance review. That is a very high-risk tactic. Feedback, both good and bad, should happen as soon as possible and it should be clear and absent of assumptions and judgments. Good leadership training can be a big help to managers who need to learn this skill.
• Avoid clichés. There are so many corporate slogans, programs, and made-up words, that it can become infuriating to team members. Stay away from new, invented words. Don’t engage in “clearification.” Just be clear.
• Respond to team member concerns. Whether the answer is, “Yes, we can co that,” or “No, we can’t do that and here is the reason,” make sure that every concern gets a credible response. Also, make sure that the responses are communicated face-to-face. Don’t hide behind e-mails or memo’s.
The opposite of fear is trust. Anything that you can do to build credibility, do it. When people trust their leaders, they will do anything to help them. They will go the extra mile when you need them to. The reason that most organizational change programs fail is that people do not believe what their managers tell them. If you really want to be successful, you need to have your employees on your side. They don’t have to like you, but they do need to trust you. If they believe what you say, they can become and stay engaged.
In an October, 2007 study by Towers Perrin, “The Global Workforce Study,”
the authors conclude that engaged employees equal increased earnings.
In the 12-month study across 50 companies, those with the highest percentage of engaged workers had a 19% increase in operating incomes and a 28% increase in earnings per share. On the other hand, over the same year period, companies with the lowest employee engagement rates showed a 33% decline in operating incomes and an 11% decline in earnings per share.
In a study by Watson Wyatt, companies with the highest levels of effective communication experienced a 26 percent total return to shareholders from 1998 to 2002, compared to a -15 percent return experienced by firms that communicate least effectively. Also, organizations that communicate effectively were more likely to report employee turnover rates below or significantly below those of their industry peers.
Effective leadership training can help companies drive out fear if they focus on these important issues. Workshops like Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader Effectiveness Training include many of these elements and create a forum to discuss these issues in a facilitated environment. Smart leaders will use these leadership training events as a starting point to increase trust in their organizations.
© 2011 William Stinnett, Ph.D., L.E.T. Master Trainer for Gordon Training International
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