Introduction
Fear is one of the most powerful motivating forces in our working culture today. It is what an overwhelming majority of bosses use, deliberately or mindlessly, to keep order. Think about it. How often have you or someone you know felt one of these fears – the fear of being thought a slacker and fired; of being unfairly criticised; of being back-stabbed and passed over for promotion; of being left in the dark, excluded, left out of meetings, undercut, pre-empted; the fear of being the last to know? The fear of not being wanted?
Fear easily overtakes excitement and enthusiasm as the primary driver of motivation at work. It is readily used as a management tool because there is simply nothing easier than tapping into another person’s fear system.
But neuroscience shows us that a culture of fear is unhealthy and invariably destructive of both people and businesses. Fear costs human beings their physical and emotional well-being. It costs companies money and time to deal with the damage done to employees. A culture of fear produces companies that are increasingly inefficient, non-competitive, and uninventive. They may survive, but they may not thrive.
The challenge to business organizations is how to break out of this vicious cycle of fear. To meet this challenge we look to the brain sciences to understand the progressively devastating effects of fear, in all its aspects, on the individual. We then look at how relationships impact the brain, and investigate the biology of trust, which is the effective antidote to fear and, we believe, the essence of the new organisational paradigm that will replace the greed, performance-driven models that have shown themselves so destructive of the common good.
The first quarter of the 21st century is going to be defined by the remarkable advances in biology that are taking place. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the brain sciences, which can now see the direction from which an understanding of the neurobiology of the ‘Self’ – an understanding of the way the brain constructs the person – will come.
This has huge implications for all aspects of our social existence, among which will be the way we think of people at work, their relationship to the workplace, their relationships with each other, what the workplace will be, and how human energy will be focused on the pursuit of profit in monetary and social terms.
The new science of the mind deepens our understanding of how relationships build brains and the continuing emotional impact that relationships have on the brain – for better or worse – throughout the lifespan.
The application of this knowledge is crucial for leaders and managers. It has important implications for the way human energy will drive goals in organizations, and what the whole field of human relationships at work really is about. The brain-savvy organization will put high value on a relationship culture and become wary of simplistic, performance-driven and transactional values.
It is the purpose of this book to present, in a highly accessible form, the basis upon which the application of human energy to profitable activity – social as well as financial – can be pursued. It offers the advantage of knowledge from the modern brain sciences in establishing the Fear-Free Organization.
In the Fear-Free Organization there are no Panic Rooms, no internal enemies, no bad guys. The Fear-Free Organization has zero tolerance for bullies, for back-biting, vicious gossip, tittle-tattle, undermining behaviours, hijacking tactics, political jockeying for position, favouritism, and fascist style policies. In the Fear-Free Organization leaders understand that scared people spend a lot more time plotting their survival than working productively. In the Fear-Free Organization people work on inspiration. They are encouraged to take risks, to think out of the box, to challenge the status quo, to explore new frontiers, to stand up and be counted.
We set out the argument for condemning fear within organizations, and explain why fear makes absolutely no sense in any organization, and why running on fear has no profit in it. We explain the new frontiers in neuroscience that are beginning to teach us how we become who we are, how we are not stuck in a mould, how we can adapt ourselves to become who we want to be, how we can lead ourselves and become leaders who inspire others.
We examine businesses that operate using fear as their fuel, presenting interviews with current and former employees. We show and discuss the negative results of the culture of fear in real businesses. We present scientific evidence of the destructive nature of fear in the workplace, and we show managers new, efficient, cost-effective, healthy ways to re-structure and successfully run their businesses based not on fear but on the emotions that create energy and direct co-operation.
This book will not set forth a step-by-step model of behaviour that will guarantee your success as a leader. The Fear-Free Organization considers how each individual develops and grows. We do not evolve out of cookie-cutter moulds. There is no guarantee that if we do x then y will follow. We are each born with highly complex systems and structures that comprise the brain; a brain that is underpinned by genetics and sculpted by experience; a brain that is dynamic and driven by energy. Both nature and nurture combine and interact to determine our ways of thinking, feeling and acting.
Excessive and persistent levels of fear create changes in brain function that then interfere with decision-making processes. We show how those levels of excess can be recognized and corrected. We show how to bring neuroscientific knowledge about the self into the heart of the organization in order to develop robust models of leading and managing in a sustainable business culture free from fear. Above all, we raise a banner for the working idea that fear-free organisations are what the future of work at its best will be about.
‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ (Maya Anjelou).