I was reading an article this week that appeared recently in the Whidbey-News Times. This was the headline:  

          UPDATE: Whidbey loses Poseidon, thousands of jobs in doubt

If you just read the headline you’d be inclined to think that the people on Whidbey Island, located north and west of Seattle in the Puget Sound, were facing an immediate economic crisis with 2600 jobs in jeopardy. In truth the jobs may be at some risk, there are still a lot of unanswered questions; however, any phase out of these positions would take place over a nine year period, if it takes place at all. This all becomes clear if you read the article which is written in such a way as to emphasize the uncertainty of the situation. But the headline sells the news media!

On Fidalgo Island, just north of Whidbey, where I live in the town of Anacortes, we have two modest sized petroleum refineries employing about 800 people between them as well as several hundred contractors on an ongoing basis, very likely an additional 300 jobs. The people in our town can and have been frightened by headlines similar to those in the Whidbey- News Times on more than one occasion with threats of the loss of these jobs, and will continue to be into the future. Such is the cost of economic dependency.

Being mindful of the potential economic threat facing the people of both islands I was reflecting today on the way many people, much like many in these two communities, unwittingly position themselves to be emotionally and psychologically “whipsawed” by forces beyond their control. I currently participate as a member of the economic development subcommittee of my local Chamber of Commerce in Anacortes. My intention, along with those of my fellow committee members, is to be able to stimulate economic and employment alternatives for the island, not to avoid the loss of our refineries and the employment they bring. Whether we like it or not that eventuality is very likely beyond our control. As a community we need to be responsible for the potential loss of these assets and have in place alternatives that could replace many if not all of these positions or serve as incentives for new citizens to be drawn to our area because of the opportunities we represent. As a committee of invested citizens we are operating freely into a new future rather than being paralyzed by the fear of the loss of our present. Time is always going to be our primary limitation which means that there is no time like right now to get cracking on creating solutions.

Scenarios similar to those portrayed here on both Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands are played out on a miniaturized scale day in and day out in organizations all around us. Managers seeking solutions to producing significant gains in employee engagement are being unconsciously undermined by the very lifestyles of employees they wish to engage. Many employees, managers too, live at or near the limits of their economic wherewithal. These very same people have no disaster plan or exit strategy in place in the event they experience a loss or decline of their income flow. Consequently they often live in a state of quite desperation, hoping that they do nothing to cause the loss of their employment. They are not grounded in their responsibility for their own economic future. In their world opportunity is something someone creates or offers to them and has little or nothing to do with who they are or what value they may bring. They live in a state of economic dependency without necessarily a corresponding awareness of the risk they continually place themselves and their families in by failing to insure against a catastrophic loss of income.

You may think this sounds preachy or judgmental, even critical. Well….yes, if that is what it takes to wake people up! Managers need to wake too for that matter.

People who are scared for the future of their income are rarely if ever fully engaged, they lack the capacity for full engagement. About the best they are able to offer is compliance or adherence to desired direction. Furthermore, they are not trustworthy.

By now you should be very uncomfortable but consider this; I am not talking about absolute untrustworthiness. What I am referring to here is people being rendered untrustworthy by virtue of being held hostage by their own economic need. Honestly, can you count on people to do the right thing when they believe it may in some way threaten or constrain their employment situation? Hopefully this is a rhetorical question.

We will not drive fear from our organizations without being responsible for the many employees that are coming to work scared and consequently limiting their contribution to that which appears safe. I am not suggesting that we need to address the  external conditions that promote the fear but rather the fear itself and how catering to it unwittingly contributes to lessening the perceived value our employees can provide.

• Where do you suspect that you have employees who are operating so as to limit their own risk of losing either their current position or employment with your firm?
• What conversation can you imagine having with such employees that would bring the fear out in the open and allow it to be addressed directly?

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 Last week I read some powerful thoughts at ProjectConnections.com written by Kimberly Wiefling, founder of Weifling Consulting.com. I like to check in periodically with those writing in disciplines other than my own mainly to find fresh perspectives. When I clicked through to ProjectConnections.com I arrived at a very thoughtful piece titled ‘Avoiding Stone Age Practices in the Age of the Internet.’ Snappy titles will get my attention but this article has plenty of solid content as well, especially as it pertains to both leadership and engagement.

Kimberly wrote ‘Scrappy Project Management’ back in 2007, it is consistently a best seller among project manager’s guide books and currently #1 on Amazon Kindle in the Total Quality Management category. More importantly to me Kimberly is a project management expert who recognizes that people and culture are as important as process and planning when it comes to realizing successful projects . She also shares the same continuing disappointment that I do. In Kimberly’s words, “In spite of a wide array of research, books, and articles on exactly what works with millions of people worldwide, I still find that most work environments fail to implement even the most basic elements required of healthy, vibrant, work environments: corporate cultures capable of fostering and enhancing business results.”

To these words from Kimberly I give a “tip of the hat” to honor Dr. Deming’s words in his well recognized 14 Points for Management , specifically point '#8 Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.' With all the dollars invested in new systems and process analysis (how we do our work) it seems intuitive that we might we might allocate as much attention to who we are while we are working. Yet we do not, or when we do want it done in a half day session!

What exactly is present when FEAR is absent and why do modern managers have such a limited ability to address or eliminate fear in their places of work? I’ll conjecture the following theories and ask you to test my thinking against your own experience.

First, the model shown at right suggests that organizationally all Results become “possible” from a foundation of Engaged Relationship and the unspoken assertion here is that POSSIBILITY is a precondition for all desired Results. Show this model to a classically trained manager or MBA and they will say something like “OK, I am with you on the RESULTS thru OPPORTUNITY part but what about this POSSIBILITY you speak of? It was not covered at my university or in my management development curriculum.”

The point I wish to distinguish is that POSSIBILITY is the "space for accomplishment" and is what is present when FEAR is absent. It becomes available as the condition given by the creation of ENGAGED RELATIONSHIP; chosen not required associations.

An ENGAGED or CHOSEN RELATIONSHIP is one characterized by Mutuality of Purpose, Respect and Understanding. To get to this point means that all parties involved have engaged in dialogue sufficient to satisfy these conditions. Failing to pursue sufficient dialogue to accomplish this purpose there will be a resulting absence of POSSIBILITY and that space will be occupied by FEAR. Think emotional and psychological distress if FEAR doesn't register.

Secondly and in support of the earlier theory, while classic management training or development does not acknowledge or even recognize the importance of POSSIBILITY, it consequently also does not recognize Learning as a legitimate OUTCOME.  Essentially the failure here is the function of only being able to register RESULTS using the language of finance and that language does not distinguish Learning as having measurable value. Take a look at this second model, one which includes OPPORTUNITY generated from Learning.

What we often see is that while a given endeavor may not culminate in the desired financial RESULT there will always be Learning that occurs. The product of the RESULT that is realized and the Learning will provide a new place (OPPORTUNITY) to address the FUTURE from and the cycle begins again. Unfortunately, our insistence on the tyranny of the financial language leaves us with an inability to distinguish the new OPPORTUNITY in any powerful way or way that can be celebrated for its contribution to a new Future

 OK, now don't get all crazy here, this does not mean we have to change all our compensation plans or find some way to measure learning. As a leader it is really just a matter of using your head. You know that even when you miss an objective something of value was produced. Don't act like you hit your objective, acknowledge the failure but also acknowledge the learning. What you will produce is far more valuable conversations that people look forward to because while they know they will be held to account they also know they'll be able to leverage the RESULTS they have produced as well and the LEARNING that has occurred. FEAR will decline.

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