Good leaders make people feel safer and braver, not more afraid.
The CEO of a large industrial company couldn’t make sense of it. His business was losing market share in a high-growth region. He sought an explanation.
Turned out his regional VP, who’d been charged with rolling out a major change initiative intended to reallocate decision making to employees closest to the market, had done the exact opposite. Instead of empowering his people, he punished candor, rewarded compliance, and insisted on signing off on every communication back to HQ. Control was his modus operandi. Fear was his tool.
Sound familiar? Sadly, stories like these are all too common. And the reason is simple.. many leaders are governed more by fear of losing status and significance than they are by serving their constituents and stakeholders.
In conversations with senior leaders, many espouse the need for employees to take more risks, be more agile, and innovate faster. “Be courageous,” they say—and for good reason. Research finds that when the value of courage is present in a culture,it both boosts engagement and elevates performance. A study by the Korn Ferry Institute found a hallmark of high performing leaders is a Courage Mindset; characterized by a willingness to go ‘above and beyond’ in the presence of risk.
No organization out performs its leaders. Yet far too often, rather that inspiring bold thinking, leaders crush it. They shut down conflict (or take it offline too fast). They second-guess subordinate's decisions. They marginalize those who don’t fall in line behind them. In the process, they ratchet up fear, drive blind compliance, and dampen the very enthusiasm and ingenuity that’s most needed. Engagement goes down, quiet quitting go up.
Fear is the dominant human emotion. Transforming a fear-based culture begins with those in charge. If leaders at the top are operating from insecurity, they will never make others feel safe around them.
Turning this around isn’t easy. It requires a deep commitment to cultivating self-awareness and addressing insecurity. But in the interest of helping anyone in a leadership role get started on the process, here are a few pointers.
Leaders need to make people feel safe.
Get comfortable feeling uncomfortable
You cannot lead from your comfort zone. Only when you are willing to embrace your own vulnerability can you create an environment of shared vulnerability, a hallmark of psychological safety. Example is everything. But let's be clear: embracing discomfort isn't a one-off exercise, it's a daily endeavor.
Pat, a leader of a large division of a retailer forging new ground in e-commerce, shared with me how he strives to role model trying to get it right versus being right. “Trying to find the answers to really complex problems is riddled with ambiguity,” he told me. “But unless I’m willing to dive into the messy middle—an inherently uncomfortable process—how can I expect it of anyone else?”
Connect people to a purpose that transcends self-interest
“I have a dream...”
The power of Martin Luther King Jr’s words still speak to our deepest values and greatest hopes today. When he spoke them, they galvanized purpose, ignited new hope and fueled courage.
People today are every bit as hungry for purpose. A key role of leaders is to connect people to something greater than themselves; to reassure them that what they do each day is contributing to an outcome beyond their paycheck or their companies stock price. Communicating a bold vision with a ‘Big Why’ gives employees a clear reason to trade comfort for candor, to stick their necks out, or go the extra mile.
Draw out diversity
The best decisions are not make from frictionless meetings and homogeneity of thought. Rather they are made when high intellectual friction is paired with low social friction. When leaders actively draw out diverse opinions (particularly from the less vocal) and acknowledge the value they hold, even if they don't agree with them, they help to normalize the respectful truth telling required for optimal decision making.
Respond well to bad news
Do I open my mouth or not?
When weighing up whether to flag a problem, people make split second decisions. If they have any reason to hesitate, they usually won’t. How leaders respond to contrarian views or bad news has a far reaching ripple effect across a team or entire organization. Likewise, over indexing on the consequences of messing up only expands the holes in people’s psychological safety net. Why try when it could be a career ender?
Conversely, when leaders respond well to ‘crazy ideas’ or bad news they lower social friction. Needless to day, our regional VP above never did this.
Use failure to accelerate and scale learning
Nothing worthwhile is achieved with a guarantee of success. Good leaders embrace the maxim to “Never let a failure go to waste.” First by rewarding the 'pioneers' who had the courage to venture onto new ground. Second, by celebrating the learning and scaling it across the enterprise. Your ability to shorten feedback cycles, accelerate learning and fail forward faster will pay big dividends in a world where learning speed equals competitive edge.
Beware the hidden tax of timidity
Leaders are the ultimate culture shapers. Every interaction they they have spreads emotions, for better or worse, for courage or caution. Any leader operating from insecurity will inadvertently drive excess cautiousness that, while not immediate or obvious, will inevitably exacts a steep 'timidity tax' to the bottom line.
That’s ultimately what our CEO came to realize. Commercial value had been lost and human potential squandered as people hungry to add value were left disillusioned and devalued. His regional VP was “invited” to take early retirement.
The lesson: when leaders make decisions solely from fear, it leaves everyone less secure.
The message: If ever there was a need for leaders to act with more courage, it is now.
Margie Warrell, PhD, is a keynote speaker, bestselling author of Stop Playing Safe and Senior Partner in CEO Succession and Enterprise Leadership at Korn Ferry.
