#267: Manage fear, not action

I worry about the fear in the workplace. Don’t get me wrong. A little fear is a useful management tool. But I’m talking about too much fear of the kind we have today.

Too much fear makes us do stupid things. Like freeze when we should run or run when we should stand still. In the moment of fear we just don’t know which is right.

Neither do managers. Managers are taught to manage action, not emotions behind actions.

On the other hand, I have watched leaders deal with fear instead of actions. Like our game ranger in the African bush. When the lioness charged, some of us wanted to run, others were frozen stiff. But the ranger knew what to do because he was not in fear.

Through the way he communicated his instructions, he managed our fear so that we acted appropriately. We walked away from the lioness, backwards and unharmed.

Leaders don’t manage actions; they manage fear.



I’m JamesMcIntosh@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2009 James Henry McIntosh

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