#1 Sign Of A Broken Company; Fear
- Darcy Patten
- Apr 22, 2018
- 2 min read
Over the past few years, I have really started to understand what my purpose in life is. I need to bring awareness and change to the workplace so that employees can bring their natural gifts of innovation and creativity to the corporation. The single most important change that should be at the top of the list is the elimination of fear in the workplace.
Now, I believe that most people instinctually know if their workplace is healthy but how can we measure it? Well, Forbes sums up some of the key symptoms quite nicely in their article 10 Unmistakable Signs of a Fear Based Workplace. If you are anything like me, you might be a little scared seeing how many of these points you actually answered yes to.
Okay, okay, I know what you are saying, this is all great and everything but what am I going to do about it. And you have a great point because there are generally three tiers to a business (more on that in another post), 1) staff 2) management and 3) executive. In most cases there is a massive disconnect between each level and the perception of how healthy the culture is.
So the critical first step is to bring awareness to the problem. Quickest way to do that is through metrics - how powerful would it be to state that 77% of employees are afraid to tell the truth? The questions are already in the Forbes article - convert it into a survey. If you are a staff member, take it to a manager who isn't just an authority but a leader. Get them to bring it forward so the HR department can issue the survey. And don't forget, the survey needs to be 100% anonymous and fully transparent.
If you are an executive, don't be afraid of the results. A friend of ours was recently diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma. While it was absolutely devastating to hear this news, they would have rather found out 2 weeks ago instead of not knowing because the minute you know, you can start to do something about it.
Life is an ongoing journey of continuous improvement, so, no matter the results, put a plan in place to take action on the outcome. It will show the entire organization that this is important and is being taken seriously. Don't worry, I have some ideas I will share in a future post that will help you out.
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