One of the most primal instincts of mankind that has helped them survive for so long in this world which is sometimes openly hostile towards its existence is the emotion of fear. When you’re afraid, you’re afraid of any physical or social harm that might come to you. This fear emotion helps you avoid an event that might cause harm in any way.
You might be able to avoid such a situation by employing any of the fight, fright or flight instincts. Fright is when you freeze up when faced with a fearful situation. Fight is the instinct that forces you to combat a situation while flight is the act of running away in order to escape a fearsome situation.
These instincts or reactions are very helpful, if in case faced with a difficult situation that might cause direct harm. But there are situations that evoke a sense of fear, unnecessarily. This instinct then forces us to run away from or avoid in some other way, things that we perceive at that time as harmful. However that thing could’ve been beneficial for our growth in some way. So, such situations can be regarded as lost opportunities which are detrimental for a team in an organizational setting.
The mechanisms through which fear operates are discussed below:
- Hiding true emotions
Fear makes you hide the fact that you’ve not understood something. Not understanding something in an office may seem to be an embarrassing situation. That is why people tend to hide this as much as they can. Had a question been asked, it might’ve been an opportunity for someone else to have their doubts cleared as well. A team, in order to work together, should be able to help each other in time. Not having a good understanding might lead to a team trying to cover up a mistake. It may even cause the flow of work to get hampered as well.
- Following the authority blindly
Fear makes us stick to whatever opinion the hierarchy has. That is to say it discourages questioning. Thus a fearful team will not have lively discussions on contrasting viewpoints. The individuals in the team will not voice a contrasting opinion if they have fear inside them.
- Not sharing thoughts
Fear makes a team not share their thoughts and stay silent. Lively discussions and open exchange of ideas are a must when it comes to enhancing a team’s performance. Which won’t happen in case the team members stay silent out of fear?
Defensive actions
Fear can cause team members to unnecessarily get defensive about their ideas. Any infighting happening within a team will be a hindrance towards getting a beneficial idea.
Hesitation in stepping out of comfort zone
Fear makes one stick to their comfort zone and this is detrimental towards growth because if a team member is not exploring newer avenues then it is likely that a lot of untapped potential is getting lost.
Signs of fear you should watch out for:
- Not putting across a point: If you think of yourself as a member of a team, then you’ll find that with increase in the level of fear, the more defensive you’re likely to get. Thus, you can understand very easily that fear is a significant factor which harms your team’s performance.
- Failure to set goals: Doctors are of the opinion that if fear is the sole consideration that is guiding your thoughts then you fail to focus on the goals and other considerations that should ideally guide your thoughts and behavior.
- Combative conversation: If you pay close attention to the conversations your team has, you’ll be able to know whether it is fear that is shaping the conversation and if so to what extent is it responsible for driving the conversation. If you notice that the tone is combative in nature, you should know that the team members are fighting with each other out of fear.
- Not voicing opinions: If you find team members arguing about issues that are mostly directed at securing their own ego. These arguments or fights are not useful in any way, shape or form. If you find that there are some people who are voicing their opinion more than others, then you should know that there are some people who are not being as productive as the rest so, you should definitely consider checking how much fear is there in the employees.
- Lack of open discussions: Having courteous and nice conversations mean that the participants are afraid of discussing matters deeply. They do not wish to deviate from the norms and thus the utility of such conversations are extremely limited.
These are the signs of fear you should look out for in your team. This issue has to be handled effectively to ensure that the team operates to its fullest potential.
