The Reasons Why Many Change Programmes Fail - Fear of Failure (part 7)

Before I begin, it’s important to remind you that the “fear of failure” exists at all levels in an organisation.?

From the board members with concerns about delivering the financial results for shareholders, middle managers defending their careers and frontline staff concerned about doing the right thing and getting punished for inappropriate results.?

But where does this fear come from??

Where Does Fear Originate??

The fear of failure often stems from individual insecurities.

Although often fear of failure is a result of their organisation’s experience of any previous change initiative, which I covered in last week’s newsletter.?

Importantly, the leadership and management style within the organisation can also encourage fear.?

Unfortunately, many business cultures don’t reward ingenuity and innovation.?

Instead, they seem to reward “steady Eddie” progress and continued average results.?

Obviously, this doesn't work.?

When these are neglected by organisations, people feel uneasy and fearful to suggest a new way of doing things.?

Making a change in work processes to enable outstanding results is a change of culture and requires thinking akin to ingenuity and innovation.?

Usually, the fear of failure manifests itself in individuals in the following ways;?

• Failing makes you worry about what other people think about you.?
• Failing makes you worry about your ability to pursue the future you desire.?
• Failing makes you worry that people will lose interest in you.?
• Failing makes you worry about how smart or capable you are.?
• Failing makes you worry about disappointing those whose opinions you value.?

The Consequences of Fear

Employees living in fear tend to tell people beforehand that they don’t expect to succeed to lower their expectations.?

Once you fail at something, you have trouble imagining what you could have done differently to succeed.?

You often get last-minute headaches, stomach aches, or other physical symptoms that prevent you from completing your preparation.?

You often get distracted by tasks that prevent you from completing your preparation which, in hindsight, were not as urgent as they seemed at the time.?

You also tend to procrastinate and “run out of time” to complete your preparation adequately.?

I’m sure you’ll agree that these are NOT the behaviours and feelings of effective, proactive employees at any level in the business.?

Therefore, breaking down the reasons for fear of failure and creating opportunities for innovation are key to a generally good performance of individuals and the organisation.?

In many change programmes, this is not considered to be a high priority, despite how easy it is to create the right environment to reduce the fear of failure.?

The key activities in a change programme to reduce fear;?

• Senior managers must stop blaming people for getting things wrong in a new situation. Surely it is part of innovation to come up with creative ideas and try new ways of working. Not all will work!?
• Hold regular sessions/workshops for creative and innovative mind mapping, where people can be free to test new ideas without being implemented into the business. There are so many meetings in the business, surely one could be replaced with this type of workshop.?
• Take some risk. If you are in an intrinsically safe environment, the culture is risk-averse. This needs to be adjusted for everyday management activities. There may be a high level of risk in manufacturing bombs, but there is very little risk in putting a different type of noticeboard up in the meeting room.?
• Measure the number of new ideas and praise and reward people for thinking differently. This should be led by senior managers.?
• Stop chasing numbers. Some managers find this hard to believe, but performance figures are outputs of the operation’s processes, not input. So, telling teams to produce 100 when the process will only allow 80 is totally non-productive. The fear of not reaching performance targets is a prime example of creating fear of failure.?
• Try new things with enthusiastic people. The organisation will be split roughly into three different groups of people. Enthusiastic people are people who are a little concerned about change and a group who are dead against it. Start with the enthusiastic people, the middle group will go along with the changes once seen and then you are two-thirds of people using new processes and ways of working. The third will be left alone and won’t influence the outcome.?

The fear of failure can be combatted.?

All it takes is the right kind of leadership skills to pull you and your employees through.?

If you’re enjoying this series so far, make sure to subscribe to get these newsletters sent directly to your inbox.?