It is often my job to say the hard things to executives.

The other day, that involved explaining to an executive that the poor behavior of one of their key team members was rooted in fear. Upon hearing this, they were understandably frustrated. They said that they had never done anything that could possible cause their team member to have that fear …. it was not realistic.

But whether they liked it or not, whether they agreed with it or not, whether they understood it or not … that fear was very real and was driving some problematic behavior.

I guarantee you that you have the same issue in your span of care.

Why?

Fear is a reality for all of us as humans. Humans do not have enough mental capacity to consume all the information around us. Fear acts as one form of attention filter, placing laser focus on the points of (perceived) danger. Work is no different.

Your people are dealing with ….

PROFESSIONAL FEAR

• Fear of failure
• Fear of losing a job
• Fear of not being valued
• Fear of being embarrassed
• Fear of not being respected
• Fear of being seen as inadequate
• Fear of not living up to potential
• Fear of disappointing others (boss, peers, team)

ENVIRONMENTAL FEAR

• Fear that the leader doesn’t tolerate dissent
• Feat that if your idea isn’t accepted, you lose
• Fear of being on low-end of the pecking order
• Fear because doesn’t know or trust each the group
• Fear of not having influence over the topic / decision
• Fear that disagreement will be seen as a personal attack
• Fear due to team members competing against each other
• Fear of not knowing the shared language & how to “say it”

What Should I Do?

1) Understand It:

The very real fact that ALL of the people in your span of care are dealing with some soft of fear that impacts their work.

Some fears you can impact and/or alleviate. Some fear you cannot. Either way, you must work to understand the ROOT of their fear so that you can hopefully predict and definitely respond to reduce the impact that the fear has when triggered.

2) Avoid the Danger Zones:

The higher up you go, the more eyes are focused on you. Everyone is paying attention to everything you do. Not only are they paying attention, they are reading meaning into your every word & action and (mis)interpreting you … all the time.

• It is dangerous to think or process out loud as many will assume that to be guidance and direction.
• It is dangerous to joke or be sarcastic as many will not understand the humor and will assume it to be factual.
• It is dangerous to be distracted or show frustration as many will believe that you don’t value them or are irritated with them.

3) Don’t Leave Them in the Dark:

Never leave your people in the dark.

• There are things you cannot tell them
• There are things you just didn’t think to tell them
• There are things you are just not sure how to tell them

But you need to tell them as much as you can when you can. Otherwise, the void of information will be filled by fear. Always err on the side of too much information.

Ask yourself:

What do they NEED to know? Why?

What do they WANT to know? Why?

What can they NOT know (yet)? Why?

What am I AVOIDING telling them? Why?

What do I ASSUME they know? Do they really?

Where have they MISUNDERSTOOD things? How?

What is not a big deal to me BUT is important to them?