Are You A Fear-Based Manager? Steps To Change
Courage is not the absence of fear. It is going forward in the face of fear. Abraham Lincoln
Everyone has fears…Fear of failure, fear of spiders, fear of their mother-in-law. We all have things we dread and no one is perfect. But, when it comes to leadership you have to focus on pushing all your fears aside.
A true leader doesn’t allow their fears or insecurities to bleed through to their team. They can compartmentalize their fears and push them out of their mind for the good of their team and company. A manager, on the other hand, does not.
A fear-based manager cripples their success, their team’s success, and the growth of their company. Instead of spending time on productive activities and growing their team, they focus on a myriad of what if’s….
What if we lose our biggest client?
What if I get demoted?
What if my team doesn’t like me?
What if I don’t get promoted?
What if I make the wrong decision?
While a leader may have these same thoughts cross their mind, they don’t base their actions and decisions on these wandering thoughts. Instead, they focus on what they can do to push past these real or even self-made hurdles.
How Fear Infects A-Team
If you manage a team and you are fearful, your actions or lack thereof speak volumes to your team. You may think you are fooling everyone around you, but you aren’t. Frozen in fear, you accomplish little to nothing.
What’s worse is your best performers will leave your organization due to your lack of leadership and you’ll be left with the people who completely align with your way of thinking. If you’re thinking awesome, I don’t have to deal with strong-willed people and my team will “get me”. Think again.
A team full of fear-based, negative thinkers is doomed to fail. Moral will suffer, negativity will take hold and your fear of failure will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And the bright spots you had on your team? Remember, they left. Without a leader to engage them as high fliers, they saw no value in hanging on to the sinking ship you have created. You’re left with the crumbs. Last I checked it’s hard to turn crumbs into a tiered cake.
Take Big Steps Towards Change
If you want to lead and not simply manage a sinking ship, stop fueling the fire. Find a way to push away your fears and negative thoughts. Take big steps towards change, leap if you have to, but do it.
Take classes, invest in a career coach, and buckle up for some hard conversations. If you don’t start pushing yourself out of your fear-based negative thinking, you’ll never succeed as a leader. You can spin it any way you want. You can blame it on someone else, you can brush it away, you can say I’ll make a change, but unless you start changing you’ll never be a true leader.
People want to follow someone who energizes them and evokes passion and positivity, not a negative naysayer. When you choose fear and negativity over growth and positivity – you will fail. So if you’re afraid of failing, getting fired, demoted, or making the wrong decision and you’re still not making moves to change and learn to lead – congratulations all of your fears have or will soon be realized. Stop putting it off, get ready to be uncomfortable, and find a way to change or be left behind.