Make Employees Fearless!
I believe we, as leaders, must create organizational cultures in which employees are fearless; especially in these challenging and highly competitive times. It’s now commonly known that if employees are fearless, the atmosphere will foster risk taking, creating room for experimentation and mistakes, and allow for great learning opportunities. Employees must feel comfortable and safe in voicing opinions, thoughts, or alternate solutions. Our cultures must hold professionalism and respect in the highest regard. If our organizations can build such cultures, we can reduce the fear of damaged reputations or retribution.
Leaders must take responsibility for ensuring positive work environments. I once heard an analogy about planting seeds to grow trees and yield fruit. The more you care for and foster the growth of the tree, the more fruit it will yield. If we can create such an atmosphere, one in which employees feel empowered to challenge norms, challenge the status quo, and feel encouraged, supported, and defended, employees will step out into unknown realms.
Build Trust
In the book Widgets, by Rodd Wagner (McGraw-Hill Education, 2015), Wagner tells the story about how Ford executive Alan Mullaly turned the company around by building trust with his executive team and empowering them to voice honest and brutal feedback. Uncovered in this story is the philosophy that once a leader can reinforce a sense of trust where honest collaboration is the goal, teams will begin to make honest and truthful assessments of work produced. They’ll even begin to share weaknesses and needs that require attention. While this type of change doesn’t happen overnight, team members can begin to be vulnerable with their teammates and leaders, resultantly building trust and allowing for potential solutions to be presented or pursued.
When employees have less fear and worry, they can focus whole-heartedly on their jobs. This includes removing fears of losing one’s job, having medical coverage, fears that the employee’s family is taken care of, and their kids’ education and safety can be counted on. These ideals must be communicated clearly and fostered as we move through unsure times. A safe work environment can put employees at ease and produce great returns for the organization.
Making Money a Non-Issue
After reading through Wagner’s theories on making money a non-issue in Widgets, I suspicion some of his points are superficial arguments that we’ve all heard or any of us would present in our discussions with friends and coworkers…it’s human nature. Not that they’re any less valid, but I wonder if they’re all part of the package in employee satisfaction; not one of them is the magic bullet.
First of all, money is in the eye of the beholder. One’s perspective of value, or money received for work provided, is always a sliding scale. Wagner pointed out that research showed people become progressively comfortable with higher levels of pay. So, no matter what work they’re doing, a person will always be accustomed to wanting more pay. Yes, in many scenarios, workers appear to be more concerned with receiving equal pay (equal to their cohorts) than the overall dollar amount of pay. However, the notion that companies try to get away with paying as little as possible while employees will try to do as little work as possible is fascinating…I believe every bit of it. While this may be basic economics, pinching pennies on the workforce to save a few bucks surely doesn’t make employees feel valued.
Next, the discussion of transparency in pay seemed to be a controversial issue. Again, I think workers want the comfort of knowing they’re receiving equal pay for equal work. However, at what point is a private company (or individual worker) concerned with maintaining privacy regarding salaries? I think company culture drives whether or not this becomes an issue. Making pay transparent, equitable, and fair may make this a non-issue in some people’s minds, but not others.
Culture
I think employees should be taken care of financially. They should be paid competitive, reasonable, respectable, or even better wages (at least at my organization) compared to others. I think this is part of showing employees that they’re valued. Wagner states it perfectly when discussing pay and compensation plans when he says, “mess it up, let it become an issue, and it will often become the issue.”
However, I think it’s most important to make money a non-issue for different reasons. I believe the organizational culture should be structured, fostered, and developed into one in which employees feel valued for so many more reasons than just money. Thus, money becomes a non-issue.
Conclusion
Leaders who implement strategies that create fearless cultures create an atmosphere that fosters creativity, the freedom to express appropriate, professional opinions without fear of retribution, a culture of trust and integrity, a culture that views failures as learning opportunities that bring us closure to solutions, and meaningful, challenging work that makes a difference.
I think making employees fearless and making money a non-issue both contribute to strong organizations. In fact, I believe taking money out of the equation contributes to a fearless employee. If we can remove the distraction of money through fair pay packages, the employee will have less to worry about and focus one their work. This care for employees by the company creating loyalty in return seems to have a cyclical affect; one that should be promulgated and understood by more great leaders.
Will you be a fearless leader?
