How to Drive Out Fear, the 'Biggest Destroyer of Value'
Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company. — Dr. W. Edwards Deming's eighth point for management transformation
Invisible and unmeasured, fear can be devastating to an organization.
The “biggest destroyer of value” is fear, says Dr. Mohamed Saleh. “The problem is that fear is invisible to KPIs, and so we don't measure fear as a KPI.”
So begins the latest episode of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement, where podcast hosts Saleh and John Dyer continue their exploration of the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming.
Deming recognized the destructive nature of fear. Eliminate it, he says in his eighth point for management transformation: Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
“I do believe (Deming) felt that was the foundation for all the other points,” said Dyer. "If you don't do point number eight, the rest of it is irrelevant."
The podcast hosts highlight the negative impacts of fear on innovation, decision-making and data. Dyer points to three umbrella categories of fear: fear of sharing bad news, fear of trying new things and fear of negative repercussions to job security or advancement. Saleh adds fear of leadership and conflict to the list.
Such fears, they note, can lead to hiding or manipulating unwelcome data, forgoing experimentation, shutting down healthy debate and even driving silence among the workforce. What you may create is a culture of “yes” people, Saleh says.
Saleh and Dyer then move into a discussion about how leaders can drive out fear. Saleh presents six questions/points for leaders to consider:
- Am I responding to problems with curiosity rather than punishment?
- Do I praise people for exposing problems?
- Do I normalize the phrase, “I don’t know. Let me go find out”?
- Am I practicing humble inquiry, such as “Tell me more”?
- Do I use gemba walks to better understand the environment and not blame people?
- How do I celebrate learning, not outcomes?
Saleh also lays out several design elements to help drive out fear. For example: Have you established a daily management system that gives people a place to speak up? Have you designed escalation pathways to follow when things go wrong? Is there a catch ball process to shaping strategy?
Referring to Deming’s eighth point, Saleh says, “Drive out fear does not mean ‘be soft.’ It means ‘be effective.’”