Fear Can Ruin Your Business From Within
Article written by John
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Do you invoke fear in your employees?
Or maybe you're cool, but you got that great at paperwork, bad with people kind of manager working for you.
Today I want to talk about something most people don't think about when it comes to their company - internal fear.
 Image by andycarvin |
The internal workings of a company and interpersonal relationships between your managers and employees are just as important as treating your external customers like treasures.
In their quest to earn a profit, many entrepreneurs forget there is a such thing as an internal customer (internal customers are your employees). Many times these customers buy from you, but more importantly their attitudes and work ethic reflect how well your business will do.
If you own a company, it's important to keep a watchful eye over your staff and read between the lines.
A person I know works for a large corporation where a small group of employees fear their manager. No, they don't fear for their lives, they fear if they speak up they might be "retaliated against" (to use their own words).
They feel if they speak up and voice their opinion their boss will snap at them, make them feel they have the problem, and in turn watch them for any mistakes they make. In essence, it puts them in the spotlight.
After talking with this small group for a bit, a reoccurring theme became present. None of the employees had any desire to go the extra mile for their boss. They also admitted they have talked about how bad of a company the place they work is and the first chance something better comes along they're going to take it.
Wow. What great marketing this company has going for it - yeah, whatever!
When managers and employees fear one another they may feel alone, worried, distrust, skeptical, unwilling to speak up, etc.
This kind of environment can severely limit your company's success.
Let's turn it around and look at some traits of a workplace environment without fear:
- a helpful and understanding atmosphere
- open communication which promotes employee feedback to help improve service and product sales
- humor which helps promote a positive attitude and will reflect on external customers
- ideas freely bouncing around
- teamwork
- reliance on one another's expertise to ensure the best results
You get the point. The thought I want you to take away here is what would a business be like if the above traits were removed?
Ok, this is all fine and great. But what do you do if your staff may be experiencing a little internal fear with one another?
Here are a few things I've either done or experienced that has helped promote teamwork in the workplace:
- Define roles in the company. Make sure everyone knows where they land on the totem pole.
- Have an open door policy where employees can speak with managers and owners alone and about anything (i.e. feedback). This will backfire if you a) tell everyone, "Jason came to me and said . . ." and b) turn the employee's opinions against them and make them feel they've done something wrong. It is important here to be a good listener here.
- Give recognition of achievements regularly
- Stay away from managers socializing after hours with a few employees. It's best to keep the manager/employee relationship professional.
- Provide plenty of training so employees can learn their jobs well and not be afraid of some tasks.
- Only discipline an employee and point out their major problems behind closed doors.
- Don't show favoritism.
- Beware of gimmicks to raise morale. If employees are having issues with one another, playing a game or having a buzz session won't fix the problem.
If you own a company, is internal fear a problem for your employees? Is teamwork absent and you feel you're the only one that "cares."
What can you do to make your employees feel wanted and extra special while working for you?
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