Inspiring people to greatness rarely comes off the back of them fearing for their jobs – especially if you are looking for long term results. Sometimes leading through fear is not a conscious decision, it might simply be generated out of pure urgency to get something done or your own fear that a project won’t succeed.
In a recent interview with Channel 9’s award-winning program The Bottom Line, Greg Medcraft talked about the merit of positive leadership. The power of positivity is hard to ignore, but here are my top three reasons why leading through fear is bad for business and should not be your fall-back motivator.
- Fear crushes creativity. People who are afraid of stepping out of their comfort zone will never exercise their full level of creativity for fear of being wrong. Worse still, the business suffers because processes and staff become stagnant, searching for stability rather than pushing the boundaries of greatness.
- Fear fosters mistrust. One of the most important currencies in business is trust – and this flows both ways. Leaders need to be able to trust that what their staff are doing is what is required and the staff need to be able to trust that their leaders have their best interests and future success at heart. Without this level of trust people become disgruntled and self-serving – protecting their own interests over those of the business because they are afraid of the future if they don’t.
- Fear forces people out. If you have a team of people that you see as the future of your business you need to be realistic about the different kinds of leadership that each member of the team requires. One size doesn’t always fit all and fear as a motivator is a big long-term risk, as most people prefer to be inspired rather than ruled with an iron fist. Of course at times, a sense of urgency needs to be created but uncovering sources of individual motivation or motivators will always serve you better in the long run than ruling through fear.
What do you think: is fear an effective leadership tactic?
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Vanessa Stoykov is the founder of No More Practice, and the founder of the parent company, evolution media group in 1999. She has over 20 years’ experience in financial services as both a journalist and business owner. She is passionate about creating education and communications to help the wealth industry and consumers fulfill their prosperity potential.
