The Nature of Fear

 

Merriam-Webster defines fear as: “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.”

In the Bible, fear can carry two very different meanings. There is the harmful, anxious fear that people are repeatedly told to overcome, but there is also the fear of the Lord—a sense of reverence, awe, and respect.

Whatever definition we use, fear is part of being human. Even people we describe as fearless have fears.

·       We fear failure.

·       We fear what we don't understand.

·       We fear what we are told to be afraid of.

·       We fear rejection.

·       We fear losing what we have.

·       And sometimes, strangely enough, we may even fear success and everything that comes with it.

There are so many types of fear.

Fear Doesn't Always Look Like Fear

This becomes particularly interesting in the workplace. Fear doesn't necessarily announce itself by saying: “I'm afraid.”

·       Sometimes it says: “That's not how we do things here.”

·       Sometimes it becomes defensiveness when someone asks a legitimate question.

·       Sometimes it becomes territorial behavior when a talented new employee arrives.

·       Sometimes we withhold information because knowledge makes us feel indispensable.

·       Sometimes we micromanage because trusting someone else means surrendering control.

·       Sometimes we exclude someone because they are different from the people with whom we are most comfortable.

And sometimes we diminish another person's abilities because, somewhere beneath the surface, we are afraid they might outshine us.

Fear can also contribute to assumptions, stereotyping, exclusion, and microaggressions. What appears on the surface to be hostility may sometimes have something else underneath it: insecurity, unfamiliarity, competition, or fear of losing one's place, but none of that excuses poor behavior.

Understanding the source of a behavior and excusing the behavior are not the same thing. That distinction matters.

Fear Changes Relationships

One of the greatest casualties of unchecked fear in the workplace may be trust.

·       When employees fear their leaders, they stop asking questions.

·       When leaders fear talented employees, they stop developing them.

·       When coworkers fear competition, collaboration becomes guarded.

·       When people fear being embarrassed, they stop admitting mistakes.

·       When employees fear retaliation, they stop raising concerns.

And when we fear people simply because they are unfamiliar to us, we may never take the time to actually know them. Eventually, people begin protecting themselves instead of working with one another. That is not simply an interpersonal problem.

It becomes an organizational problem.

Because organizations depend upon relationships. People have to trust one another enough to disagree. They have to feel secure enough to ask questions.

Leaders have to be confident enough to hire people who may know things they don't.

Colleagues have to recognize that another person's success doesn't automatically diminish their own.

And organizations have to create environments where people don't spend half their energy protecting themselves from one another.

Fear Isn't the Enemy

Even the bravest people confess to having fears. There is nothing inherently wrong with fear.

·       Fear can protect us.

·       It can make us cautious.

·       It can cause us to prepare.

·       It can tell us when something deserves our attention.

·       The problem begins when fear starts making our decisions for us.

·       The goal, therefore, isn't necessarily to eliminate fear.

Perhaps it is to become aware enough to recognize it and disciplined enough to decide what we do with it.

Before reacting defensively, ask why you feel threatened.

Before assuming someone's intentions, get to know them.

Before withholding an opportunity because someone might surpass you, consider what their growth could contribute to the organization.

Before labeling someone as difficult, intimidating, aggressive, or threatening, ask yourself what behavior you're actually responding to—and whether some of that reaction belongs to you.

That requires a different kind of courage. Not the absence of fear, but the ability to examine it.

Leadership Reflection

Perhaps leaders should occasionally ask themselves: what are we afraid of?

·       Are we afraid of change?

·       Are we afraid of being challenged?

·       Are we afraid of people who think differently?

·       Are we afraid that developing talented employees will make them leave, or perhaps make them capable of replacing us?

·       And how much of our organizational culture has quietly been shaped by those fears?

Because fear left unexamined doesn't simply affect individuals. It affects relationships. Relationships shape culture. And culture shapes organizations.

So, perhaps the goal shouldn't be to become fearless.

Do not be afraid of fear. Be fearful of letting it rule you.

Dr. Flavius A. B. Akerele III, EdD, MBA

#Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #Fear #WorkplaceRelationships #OrganizationalCulture #Trust #ProfessionalDevelopment #IntentionalLeadership

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