ARE YOU LEADING THROUGH FEAR OR RESPECT?

There is always a motive behind what we do even in including leaderships. Many leaders either lead from a place of fear or respect.

Fear-based leaders use fear to control employees instead of trusting their teammates and inspiring them to do great things. It looks like yelling, bossing people around, barking orders without regard, and treating team members as tools for personal gain. In the current world, it is much more common than we think yet no leader will admit they are leading through fear. This kind sometimes has very fragile egos, always wants to feel in control doesn’t always feel good about themselves and wants to make everyone feel miserable too. In many cases, it stems from the leader’s insecurities and own fears.

Leading with fear appears effective in the short term; it can cause immediate action, and ensure temporary accountability, but its biggest problem is that it creates a sense of false urgency in people, a heightened sense of anxiety which in turn creates a lot of activity, but not a lot of productivity.?In the end other than employees being focused on actioning the company strategy they are just focused on survival to keep their jobs

Respect-based leadership takes more intentionality effort and time for the results to be seen but is sustainable in the long term. This is earned by the leaders through leading by example of what they want others to become. Take away their title and virtually nothing would change. They would still act as leaders in any position they’re put in; their drive and devotion to people and the organization is what keeps them going, continuing to empower and affect those around them. These are the leaders who take time to find out employee strengths and support them to bring out their full potential. They look to others for ideas and feedback, ask for help with their weaknesses, and admit when they’re wrong, all with authenticity.

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Fear-based leadership may seem to get results in the short term but is not sustainable in the long term and is severe for the culture and ultimately the performance of an organization. Respect-based leadership on the other hand may have a slower impact at the beginning but over time has the greatest impact and can build future-proof agile organizations.