Drive Out Fear!

Continuing the series on W. Edwards Deming’s 14 points for management to follow as covered in his book, Out of the Crisis.  Each point will be discussed in a separate article.

Point #8 – Drive Out Fear.

Often I’ve discussed the importance of creating a culture based on open communications, information sharing, and process improvement, rather than one based on “holding people accountable” and blame. The latter creates fear, which according to Deming must we wiped out of your organization. He writes:

“A common denominator of fear in any form, anywhere, is loss from impaired performance and padded figures.”

Consider these various forms of fear to which Deming refers that are still prevalent in organizations today:

• Fear to express ideas which are contrary to the boss
• Fear to ask questions without ridicule
• Fear to report bad news, mistakes, and defects
• Status reports and performance reviews given to leaders which are padded and skewed to the positive
• Resistance to knowledge (I once worked with an organization that was reluctant to improve the lighting in a work area because it would be easier to see defects. No kidding.)
• Taking actions to improve short-term results at the expense of long-term performance
• Fear motivation from leaders

Years ago, in my corporate career, I had a boss who did not like to hear opinions contrary to his own. Because of my tendency to state differing opinions when warranted, and even though my career was “fast-tracking” at the time, this leader criticized my performance to senior leaders. It took me three years and a move to a different business unit to recover my career. I almost left them for another company.

Do you want to improve employee engagement and retention? Do you value and want the opinions of all staff members? Do you REALLY respect all members of your team? Then you must drive out fear in all its various forms. Ask for differing opinions. Encourage the communication of bad news. Apologize to staff members when they make a mistake because there is a poor process. Eliminate the use of fear motivation from leaders.

The word “secure” comes from Latin which means “without fear”. How secure do your employees feel?

Next month: Point #9 – Break down barriers between departments.

This article was previously published in the May, 2018 edition of VB Front Magazine. Mike Leigh is the President of OpX Solutions, LLC, a performance improvement company that specializes in helping organizations pursue operational excellence through leadership development and process improvement. Contact him at [email protected].