FEAR.
We love it and we hate it.
People LOVE it because the right dose of positive fear pushes us out of our comfort zones and challenges us to reach new limits; to become a better version of ourselves.
At the same time, people HATE it because too much negative fear provokes uncomfortable feelings of anxiety, irrational worries, tiredness, mental fatigue, sleepless nights and numerous other unpleasant states of inner turmoil.
Despite these feelings of terror, how we humans then react is really quite interesting. Regardless of the fact that our body is telling us that something is wrong, our mind still stubbornly insists that we exceed all expectations set for us by our external and internal worlds. It blithely ignores almost overwhelming feelings, discounts our decline in productivity and disregards our by now long-lost focus. It also ignores the fact that too much negative fear has a negative effect on our health, family, relationships and the organisations in which we work.
We are in a wheel of anxiety until we collapse. Only then, do we start thinking about the mental and cognitive patterns that have driven us to this situation. Only then, do we start exploring what it as that we were actually afraid of in the first place.
Fear. It can be the fuel that drives us to succeed and it can be the fuel that drives us to anxiety hell.
LACK OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY AS ONE OF THE CAUSES FOR ANXIETY AT WORK
There are various causes behind anxiety. Among numerous external factors, one is the combination of an overly stressful working environment on one hand, and a lack of psychological safety in that working environment on the other. What do I mean by that?
In today’s work environment, we must meet all sorts of expectations and deadlines, be constantly ahead of the game, excel in leadership, continually learn, and at the same time be innovative, creative and agile. But it is extremely important that we achieve all these complex goals in an environment in which we feel psychologically safe. Otherwise, we are on a highway to that anxiety hell that I mentioned.
ANXIETY AT WORK = OVERLY STRESSFUL WORKING ENVIRONMENT + LACK OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
Amy Edmondson, professor at Harvard Business School and author of the new book ‘The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth’ (2018) who coined the term psychological safety, also observes that when we work in an environment in which we face rigorous accountability on one hand, and a low level of psychological safety on the other, we enter an anxiety zone.
ANXIETY ZONE AT WORK
In the anxiety zone we are expected to excel and be accountable. But at the same time, we are afraid of being judged should we speak up and express our opinions; we are afraid to be perceived as incompetent should we initiate something and fail; and we strive constantly to prove ourselves in order to receive feedback that makes us feel appreciated, otherwise we become further afraid of losing our job/status/income.
This is the zone where our productivity contracts, where we lose our focus and concentration, where we start worrying. Without doubt, being in this zone will help neither us nor the organisation in which we work to thrive. Furthermore, it is a zone that is characterised by controlling, protecting, bad relationships—the so-called toxic working environment.
LEARNING ZONE AT WORK
Instead of the anxiety zone, we should be aiming to create a learning zone: 'working environments with a high level of accountability but a high level of psychological safety as well' (Edmondson, 2018).
I am talking about an environment where we are according to Edmondson (2018) not afraid to speak up and express our opinions, where we are not afraid to make mistakes, where we can be authentic—i.e. one in which we aim at high performance but can be ourselves at the same time. In this zone, we can be agile, creative and innovative, and we can excel in cognitive flexibility—the competencies identified in a study on management and leadership development needs and published in the book ‘Business and Society: Making Management Education Relevant for the 21st Century’ (Purg, Braček Lalić, & Pope, 2018).
PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFTEY
According to Edmondson, psychological safety is not about being nice. ‘It’s about giving candid feedback, openly admitting mistakes, and learning from each other’. Furthermore, she argues that ‘that kind of organisational culture is increasingly important in the modern economy’ (Edmondson, 2018).
FEARLESS ORGANIZATIONS
In these uncertain times, when it is hard to know what businesses needs to do to prepare for the future, one thing is certain: ‘Building psychological safety is a good place to start building a fearless organization’ (Edmondson, 2018). This should be the main stabilising factor for any organisations seeking to thrive in these uncertain and complex times.
The only questions that remain, are: Who should start building the fearless organisational culture, and how should it be done?
I will not start by pointing the finger at leaders and managers; rather, I will point it at all of us. All of us—not just leaders and managers—are responsible and accountable for establishing a high degree of psychological safety in our working environment. We all are responsible for ensuring that our colleagues are seen, heard and not afraid to speak up, and that they feel accepted, appreciated and challenged as they work to realise their organisational purpose. According to Edmondson, we should be humble enough to admit that we do not have all the answers, and at the same be able to show curiosity by fearlessly asking questions.
The precondition for being able to do this is to see, hear and accept ourselves first.
Let us step off the anxiety wheel and start building a fearless workplace culture in our organisations.
References:
1. Edmondson, A. C. (2018). How fearless organizations succeed. Retrieved from: https://www.strategy-business.com/article/How-Fearless-Organizations-Succeed?gko=63131
2. Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. John Wiley & Sons.
3. Purg, D., Braček Lalić, A., & Pope, J. (Eds.). (2018). Business and society: Making management education relevant for the 21st century. Springer.
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