When your team is in fear

In this economic environment fear, an emotional response to threats and danger, has gripped a great deal of people.  Businesses are fearful about the future.  Revenues are down, spending is constrained, layoffs have become a real possibility and many businesses wonder if they are going to make it through this severe down cycle.  What about the employees in these businesses?  Their friends, co-workers, relatives, and neighbors  have all lost jobs.  They know that things cannot continue the way they are or they may lose their jobs.  Fear has gripped our economy.

As a leader in your business this produces a bigger challenge.  For your business to move past these challenges, your team needs to be motivated and stimulated.  Fear has a tendency to freeze people in their tracks.  This was no more highlighted to me when I was copied on an email between two people, one of which had been recently terminated and was personally feeling the sting of the event.  While the comments were less than motivating or empathetic, its tone spoke to the mindset of many of those currently employed who are simply trying not to lose their jobs:

“You have to approach this without a chip on your shoulder.  When I visited you in October, you had sent this book [The Five Dysfunctions of a Team] to your boss asking him to read about how he could change and re-vamp the attitude of his company.  Not a cool thing to do in these economic times.  While you probably did nothing wrong, these are not times to challenge the President of your company.  Whether we like it or not, they are looking for cut backs and it sucks. And, we just need to keep our mouths to the grindstone and work forward.  You have to realize  that no company really gives a shit about what you think, because they don’t.  They just merely want you to peacefully do the job they ask of you.”

When people are simply doing their jobs without any motivation or sense of empowerment to innovate or stimulate change in an organization, that business is at an even greater risk than getting blasted by the economy.  As leaders in these times, we must encourage and empower and motivate our teams to find ways to enhance and improve the business.  While we are immediately and centrally focused on the revenues and cost side of the business spectrum right now, we cannot lose sight that the ideas or solutions that will save our business is probably not in cost savings.  Rather, it will be found in your passionate, motivated, and innovative team working together to turn things around.  Great results emanate from motivated and focused teams working together to accomplish great things.

Is your team living in fear?  If so, pull them together and get them working together on something other than simply trying to save their job.  Playing not to lose is playing defensively.  In football, the defense rarely scores.  Get your team on the offense.  That is where your business has a much better chance of scoring and winning.