A fear-based approach is counterproductive.
Even in the best-run organizations, things go wrong and employees mishandle their assigned tasks.
Sometimes those mistakes are significant and costly, infuriating managers who come down hard and with perhaps a bit of righteous fury on the hapless offender.
But such managerial venting just makes matter worse in the long run, says Don Rheem, CEO of E3 Solutions and author of Thrive By Design: The Neuroscience that Drives High-Performance Cultures.
“The traditional role of managers is to hold people accountable to timelines, budgets, productivity and other factors,” he says. “But often that’s done with a fear-based approach where employees perform their duties under threat of some kind of punishment.”
That’s counterproductive because humans don’t perform to their optimum level when the brain becomes preoccupied with fear and uncertainty, says Rheem, whose firm uses science-backed research to consult with leaders at all levels in organizations.
In fact, it’s just the opposite. People do a better job of carrying out their duties under positive circumstances, and research shows that individual employees, the team and the organization all are more likely to thrive when leaders are positive.
That doesn’t mean managers should ignore problems. Things do go wrong and employees need to be held accountable, but it comes down to how a manager handles those situations. The key is to show managers how to hold people accountable without being negative. Rheem says the a three-step approach is effective when an employee botches an assignment.
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