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Increase trust, reduce fear

“The most critical challenge for any organization is to enlarge the circle of trust.”

Command-and-control systems reflect a deep mistrust of employees’ commitment and competence. They also tend to overemphasize sanctions as a way of forcing compliance. That’s why so many organizations are filled with anxious employees who are hesitant to take the initiative or trust their own judgment. Organizational adaptability, innovation, and employee engagement can only thrive in a high-trust, low-fear culture. In such an environment, information is widely shared, contentious opinions are freely expressed, and risk taking is encouraged. Fear paralyzes, mistrust demoralizes—they must be wrung out of our management systems.

124 Stories
236 Hacks
22 Barriers

Increase trust, reduce fear

“The most critical challenge for any organization is to enlarge the circle of trust.”

Command-and-control systems reflect a deep mistrust of employees’ commitment and competence. They also tend to overemphasize sanctions as a way of forcing compliance. That’s why so many organizations are filled with anxious employees who are hesitant to take the initiative or trust their own judgment. Organizational adaptability, innovation, and employee engagement can only thrive in a high-trust, low-fear culture. In such an environment, information is widely shared, contentious opinions are freely expressed, and risk taking is encouraged. Fear paralyzes, mistrust demoralizes—they must be wrung out of our management systems.

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This is Karen's story. In 2011 a colleague and I attended a presentation at a conference. The speaker had made a mistake but had not realized it.
Story by Peter Rennie on July 14, 2013
José may be a typical Latin name, but in this story of a Mexican doing business in Brazil is not a very common one. For one thing he chose to strive in an Emergent Economy.
Story by Volney Faustini on September 21, 2010
It's basicly a Geosocial network (like foursquare socialnetwork) with gaming features  that enables people from different backgrounds to invest on the stock exchange and the commodities futures e
Story by patrick chanda on December 27, 2011
This hack was written as one of the requirements to obtain the Innovation Mentor Certification at CIMp.
Story by Dennis Agnew on September 19, 2016
It begins with you! In the greater sense of all aspects there are no cultural differences. Many of today’s existing, foremost believed cultures are simply pictured by different markets environments.
Story by Hans Soentgerath on November 7, 2010
My Sales and Marketing journey began in a great country called Sultanate of Oman.  It was a role model sales team in the Middle East back in 1997 selling Automobile and industrial lubricants.&nbs
Story by Sridharan on October 4, 2011
There are three universal truths about traditional performance appraisals. They are widely used, universally despised, and are known to be ineffective.
Story by Christopher D. Lee on October 1, 2020
We need to develop a personal stake in our world.
Story by Jennifer Conrad on May 11, 2012
The Vice President of the division told me a decision was made that I was not going any higher in the management of our company.
Story by Jim McGriff, Jr. on December 14, 2016
This story features Hero Arts, a 38-year old design company that manufactures decorative stamp products for the global craft market.   A family business, Hero Arts is recognized by customers
Story by Aaron Leventhal on May 11, 2012

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