Regaining Focus: Counteracting Fear In The Workplace Part 1

Global competition, unrelenting change, and the unequivocal disappearance of institutional security and guarantees have created widespread fear and anxiety in the contemporary workplace. Coupled with a sustained unpredictability, this fear and anxiety has produced undesirable results for many companies in terms of a number of Key Performance Indicators, such as profitability, productivity, sales effectiveness, recruitment, and retention.
To counter the defocusing impact of this fear, organizations need to concentrate on strategies, tactics, and human capital deployment aimed toward regaining focus on these Key Performance Indicators.

We have identified eight of the most critical signs of diminished focus, as well as interventions geared to minimize their negative impact. This column will address four of these signs and next month’s column will deal with the remaining ones.

1st Sign Of Diminished Focus
“Increased Activity In The Rumor Mill” – When this is occurring, stories of imminent doom and catastrophe run rampant in the organization and quickly become embedded legend. They usually revolve around issues of leadership scandal or bungling, widespread terminations (coming soon), and the inevitable financial meltdown of the company.

1st Strategy For Regaining Focus
“Differentiate Current Threats From Past Fears” – Never, ever respond to the content of a rumor. Do not confirm or deny what has been told to you. Immediately personalize the interaction and ask the person the following question. “How do you feel about what you’ve heard and what impact will it have on your life?” Drill down in this area (asking at least five more questions) until you uncover the person’s doomsday scenario. Once this is articulated, the rumor loses its power and the individual can look at realistic choices they have.

2nd Sign Of Diminished Focus
“A Growing Amount Of Offline Communication” – When this is occurring, there is a clear increase in the amount of indirect, third-party, and triangulated communication. Very little of substance is talked about in meetings, and a whole lot of meaningful conversations are taking place in restrooms, employee lounges, and hallways.

2nd Strategy For Regaining Focus
“Identifying Pain Killers Of Choice” – All indirect communication is a form of killing pain; primarily the pain and discomfort associated with the risk of telling someone that you don’t like something they’re doing or saying. Instead of berating, harassing, or shaming a person who’s communicating indirectly, help them dilute their risk by asking them what they think would happen if they shared their thoughts and feelings directly with the person they’re talking about. Verbalizing the risk removes most of the fear associated with it.

3rd Sign Of Diminished Focus
“An Escalation In Scapegoating” – When this is occurring, blaming and finger pointing displaces constructive feedback and individual ownership as the explanation for group or organizational problems.

3rd Strategy For Regaining Focus
“Clearing The Deck: Speaking The Unspoken” – Blaming and Scapegoating are always symptoms of accumulated and unarticulated disappointments and hurts. As long as feelings towards others remain unsaid, they turn sour and ugly and very rapidly become resentment and hostility.

Here’s an exercise you can use to stop scapegoating. Bring a group together that has some scapegoaters in it. Ask everyone in the group to write down what they admire most and what disappoints them most about everyone in the group, including themselves. They then get to share their observations, one person at a time, with the other people in the group. This illustrates that everyone survived and no one died from “clearing the deck.” It also models a far more productive way of dealing with uncomfortable feelings than scapegoating and blaming.

4th Sign Of Diminished Focus
“Overreactions To Legitimate Problems” – When this is occurring, people exhibit volatile, explosive, or emotionally shutdown reactions to problems that everyone acknowledges as real and demanding of solution.

4th Strategy For Regaining Focus
“Help Initiate A Skill And Attitude Self-Assessment” – When people’s reaction to a genuine problem is emotionally “over the top” or emotionally vacant, they almost always feel like they lack a skill or doubt their own attitude toward an element of the identified problem. Self-doubt always catalyzes overreactions and self-righteousness.
Don’t respond to the emotional load (or emotional vacuum). Validate the feeling that the problem is real and needs a solution. Then ask the person if there’s some information they need or a skill they could use that would help them to solve the problem. The lightning speed of change we live with makes embarrassment and self-doubt an ever-present potential companion. A simple question can remove the threat.
to be continued…