Managing fear

Famous examples of rulers who led through fear include Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who was a ruthless governor of an ancient Chinese empire. While he is best remembered for his magnificent creations, including the Great Wall, and for unifying his empire, his leadership style is still a matter for dispute. Nevertheless, leading through fear still exists today.
Management by fear is a tactic for controlling people by using threats in a direct or indirect way. Some people believe that fear is a great motivating factor, resulting in the achievement of a desired performance. For example, if people are fearful of losing their jobs or career opportunities, they will be more productive, work harder and attempt to make improvements.
Contestants of the Academy Fantasia (AF) programme, a popular TV reality show, dream about becoming superstars. All are assigned individual songs, and sometimes group songs, to perform on stage.  Every day, AF contestants attend voice classes and dancing and acting classes to enhance their performance of the songs. After the show, commentators evaluate their performance, and the contestant with the lowest percentage of audience votes is asked to leave the competition. Anyone following this programme may observe that the contestants work very hard during the week to improve their performance because they fear losing the opportunity to become superstars.
In some cases, like the AF contestants, fear can be a healthy emotion, producing bursts of performance. But it doesn’t lead to long-lasting results, especially when fear creates constant anxiety that has adverse effects. In a fear-based workplace, employees may only be interested in pleasing their bosses and passing their responsibilities onto others. Their fear can lead to lack of engagement, finishing their assignments merely for the sake of saving their jobs, and they are always searching for other employment. Such organisations may face high absenteeism and staff turnover. Ultimately, fear also stifles creativity and decreases trust and the willingness to speak up, take risks and try new things. Management by fear will corrode the capabilities of talented employees.
Another critical risk of management by fear comes when leaders propose a strategy or project with which people disagree. They might be too scared to speak up, disagree or have their say in general. Instead, leaders might find that staff will agree with anything they propose, regardless of their feelings. This can have a major and damaging impact over the long term.
The most important way to manage fear in the workplace is to acknowledge that it exists. Dealing with the causes of fear requires leaders to honestly assess their working environment and management style. Leaders can reduce the level of fear by creating an environment where employees can share information without concern for repercussions, encouraging effective two-way communication, and other means.
The father of the quality evolution, W. Edwards Deming, once said: “Eliminating fear is essential to initiating and sustaining a total quality effort, pursuing continuous improvement, encouraging innovation and achieving customer delight”. Organisations that successfully manage fear experience lower turnover, lower absenteeism, fewer grievances and better communication and coordination, both inside and outside the organisation. Employees spend less time on defending themselves against real and perceived threats and have more time to improve processes and innovation.

Dr Nutavoot Pongsiri is a senior executive of a multinational company. Follow his articles in Hi! Managers on every second Friday of the month.