Courtesy Pinnacle Human Resources LLC
By Rose Miller
Fear can be dangerous. It can turn into a mindset in which things aren’t questioned and mindless obedience to authority becomes the norm. In fact, most of the advice we hear in the business, whether from the employer or employee perspective, is based in fear.
There is fear in firing bad employees. Fear in making the wrong business decision. Fear in standing up to a miserable boss. Fear in standing up for what you believe in. Fear of others we don’t understand. The list goes on and on. Fear ends up ruining everything.
When your choices are based on these fears, the outcomes are rarely optimal. We see employers, who suffer a horrible employee because they are not sure how and when it is safe to terminate. Work doesn’t get done, better employees become stressed and the employer is seen as ineffective at managing their company. Still the employer fears a lawsuit or fears the hole left after the employee is gone.
Conversely, many employees complain of being intimidated and bullied by managers. Managers and supervisors often abuse their power through petty harassment or worse. Subordinates, even if they’re assertive and intelligent people, often behave submissively in the face of horrible bosses.
Many times, we are faced with business choices that don’t align with our personal values. I had a boss one time who wanted to “fix” the revenues because projections were so off. I had two choices: comply or resist. I’ve never regretted standing up for the choice that made personal sense to me- that was not to comply with his request.
