Fear is always a factor in business. Whether you are considering the way business owners prioritize and work toward growth, or how employees respond to management strategies, the fear factor is a necessary consideration for any entrepreneurial endeavor. Understanding the different ways fear can motivate and interfere with your business’s priorities is a necessary step to avoiding organizational dysfunction and moving toward healthy collaboration.
Fear is Always a Factor in Business
Fear can be a compelling motivator. Individuals are sometimes capable of great physical feats when adrenaline and fear are driving them. Families can work together to avoid danger. Communities can rally together in the face of a natural disaster or crisis. Solidarity and decisive action are natural responses to fear of an external danger or risk. The same is true in business.
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When businesses face uncertain futures, challenges, or even the threat of failure, it can motivate team members to take action. Business owners, supervisors, and team members can pull together when times are hard, rallying to overcome difficult obstacles and find ways to get things done. This kind of fear can be a valuable tool, when used in moderation or for short periods.
However, there are also unhealthy ways for businesses to use fear to motivate employees. Especially when the fear is focused inward, it can interfere with the company’s larger priorities, and build a toxic work environment without trust or collaboration. That is why leaders must be thoughtful about when and how to use the fear factor in business decisions, being strategic in how they think about and respond to the challenges at hand.
Fears Around Operating a Business
Fear can take many forms within the business structure. Just like conflict, fear can be internal or external, it can be the result of interpersonal issues or factors beyond anyone’s control. However, there are some common themes:
Fear of Loss of Control
Business leaders are often afraid of losing control, especially as start-up businesses begin to grow. Managers and team leaders can resist change and even growth out of fear that they will lose control of their processes or their team members. Many employees can also be protective of their own control and autonomy in their work, afraid to lose control over their working environment.
Fear of Loss of Identity
When business leaders are trying to increase market share or profits, they may be hesitant to try something truly new out of fear of a loss of corporate identity. Essentially, they may be resistant to doing something new, out of fear of losing what had worked before. They may also resist change that they feel will pull the company away from its core values or business identity.
Fear of the Unknown
At every level of the corporate ladder, people can resist change out of a fear of the unknown. This can prevent employees from adopting new processes and procedures, and can interfere with corporate leadership taking chances. The fear of the unknown can keep companies doing what they have always done, even if it is no longer working well, because it is at least familiar.
Fear of Disappointment or Missing Expectations
However, fear isn’t always entirely a bad thing. It can also be a useful motivator for employees and teams to do good work. The fear of disappointing supervisors and customers can be a strong motivation to deliver something extraordinary, or take extra care to meet expectations. However, at a managerial level, business owners may be resistant to that same high level of performance. That resistance may come from a fear of setting those same expectations too high for the next project.
Operating Out of Fear vs Safety at Work
While fear is always a factor in business, it shouldn’t be your main internal motivation. Employees who are motivated by fear – including the fear of losing their job, or toxic competition – will be far less effective collaborators within the workplace environment. The endorphins that come with fear – like adrenaline and cortisol – can interfere with creativity and make it hard for employees to come up with new ideas or find solutions to difficult problems. When fear remains a key motivator within a company for too long, or becomes a core theme, it can drive employees away, sending them searching for a business where they will feel safe at work.
Remember that high business functioning depends on trust. When employees are distrustful of one another or their leaders, they will prioritize their own needs over what is best for the company. They may conceal their mistakes, avoid asking difficult questions or challenging corporate assumptions, or withdraw from working with their team.
To combat this, managers and business owners should, whenever possible, make their employees feel safe at work. Even when the work is hard and there are operational challenges, employers should avoid casting judgment on their workers, or making it seem like the danger is coming from inside the house. Your team needs to know that you have their backs, and that you are working together. Only then will they be able to rise to the external challenges facing the company.
Get Help Addressing the Fear Factor in Business
There are positive and negative ways to use fear as motivation in your business. Striking the right balance isn’t always easy, but with the help of a skilled organizational development strategist, you can find messaging and strategies to respond to fear in ways that will motivate you, and your team, to do bigger, better things.
David Stanislaw is an organizational development specialist with over 30 years’ experience helping small business owners address the fear factor in business. Contact us to meet with David to develop a plan to respond to corporate and employee fears today.
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