In the last post in this series, I discussed the consequences of a culture of fear in the workplace.
In this post, I want to talk about how to identify a culture of fear and what you can do about it.
How to identify a culture of fear in the workplace
Low employee survey response
When you send employee feedback surveys, do they get filled in? What percentage completes them?
The lower the percentage, the greater the likelihood that you have a culture of fear in the workplace. Or, employees don’t feel like you’ll listen, so they don’t bother.
Beyond that, can they submit feedback anonymously? I once worked somewhere that required employees to submit their feedback survey to their manager first. Which meant whether it was anonymous or not, it wouldn’t have mattered because the manager could figure out it was them.
If employees are to truly feel safe, they need to be able to report people — including their manager — for bad behavior anonymously. They can’t do that if their feedback survey goes to their manager before anyone else. This only furthers a culture of fear in the workplace.
Slow innovation
Innovation happens when we feel comfortable and safe. If there’s a culture of fear in the workplace, team members are going to be less creative and innovative, which means your business risks falling behind competitors.
Poor communication and high competition between teams
The classic example of this is when sales and marketing teams don’t talk, despite having similar goals and priorities.
To get the most from both teams, they need to work together. Sales can inform marketing of the common discussions they have on calls, so then marketing can create collateral to reflect this and speed up the sales cycle.
If those teams don’t work together, it creates a mismatch in marketing and sales content, which slows everything down.
How to prevent a culture of fear in the workplace
So, what can you do to prevent, or fix, a culture of fear in the workplace?
Clear communication
Communication, like anything else, is a skill.
However, many of us don’t receive training on it and are just expected to know how to do it. This can lead to people who are bad at it affecting employees’ mental health with a mean or passive aggressive tone (intentionally or otherwise).
Alternatively, those who lack confidence may affect their own role, or colleagues’ confidence in them, by apologizing all the time.
Communication tips:
- Check anything AI says. It likes to take three times as long to say something.
- Don’t apologize. The more you apologize, the more you diminish your own confidence and other people’s confidence in your abilities.
- Keep it short. Explain it in as few words as possible, but…
- Be polite. It’s really easy, when communicating in short sentences, to come across as rude.
- Treat it as a two-way interaction. Don’t talk at people; anticipate a reply. If you’re asking a question, ask the question, don’t end in a statement.
And also, remember: AI isn’t going to help you communicate better if you ask it to write an email or Slack message for you.
You won’t have as much of an understanding of what you’re asking, and your colleague will take twice as long to figure out what the overwritten paragraph you just sent wants from them.
Instead, use a voice note so that they can listen to, or read the transcript of, what you want.
Alternatively, write it yourself. Your message will be clearer and sound more like you, improving relationships with your colleagues because they’ll feel like they’re dealing with a human who values their time. Rather than a robot because someone couldn’t be bothered to respond to them, which can contribute to a culture of fear in the workplace.
Supportive feedback
Feedback goes a long way toward making someone feel safe. It’s got to be delivered in the right way, though.
- Highlight the positives. A lot of people forget to highlight the positives when giving feedback, but doing so ensures what works doesn’t get broken as a consequence of fixing other things.
- Don’t be passive aggressive. Too often, feedback can come across as passive aggressive. Before sending something, read it back and see how you’d feel if you were on the receiving end of it. If it would make you feel defensive, fix your tone.
- Treat it as a collaboration. Instead of saying something must be this way, frame it as a suggestion. For example, instead of saying ‘this writing style is wrong, it’s too formal,’ try, ‘could we phrase this in a more casual way?’ One puts the recipient on the defensive and creates a culture of fear in the workplace, one makes them feel like you’re working together. Chances are, that person will agree with you and make the changes, and they’ll be more receptive to the rest of what you say, too.
Genuine listening
To genuinely listen to your employees, the first step is to ask them what they think. You can do this via focus groups, all-hands, or employee surveys.
In Workrowd, you can schedule automated surveys to go out at employee milestones, such as after all-hands meetings, helping you track the effectiveness of your initiatives over time.
The second step is to act on what they’ve said. For example, if someone reports a colleague for their behavior, investigate it regardless of who they are. If you don’t you risk more than just a culture of fear in the workplace. You risk increased turnover, a damaged employer brand, and more.
Intentional collaboration
Collaboration between employees makes everything run more smoothly, especially when they work together on non-work projects too.
Your employee groups are effective tools for fostering collaboration between teams and beyond. People get to know each other outside of their work lives, connecting on things like their future goals and backgrounds. This helps counter a culture of fear in the workplace through real human connection.
Need help running your groups? With Workrowd, everything you and your employees need is in one place. Get in touch to find out more.
Psychological safety
Psychological safety means employees feel able to experiment, speak up, and contribute without being penalized. It’s as simple and as complicated as that. It’s the opposite of a culture of fear in the workplace.
Most of the time, the mistakes employees make are small. Some managers or senior leaders can react out of proportion, though, making them feel scared to do anything at work in the future. This will cause them to quiet quit and possibly leave. It could even permanently damage their confidence.
Don’t penalize someone for being wrong or making a mistake — weigh your response accordingly. Most stuff really isn’t that deep or important.
Conclusion
Helping your employees to not feel scared at work means they work to a higher standard, they can experiment more, and your business can grow faster. There’s no downside to creating a welcoming work culture where everyone feels seen and appreciated versus fostering a culture of fear in the workplace.
If you’d like to find out what your employees think about your company culture, get in touch to book your free Workrowd demo and find out more about our employee survey features.
