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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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 In 2009, Citrix CEO Mark Templeton issued a challenge: Make Citrix a leader of design excellence by transforming the traditional engineering-driven company into one whose very DNA is built on th
Story by Catherine Courage on July 14, 2013
Enlarge the circle of trust by orders of magnitude and radically accelerate the trust-building process by empowering people to rely on the information even before they trust each other.
Hack by Alex Todd on May 4, 2010
Understanding a company’s culture is a key component that leaders may ignore. When I took on a new role, an updated strategy was cited as top priority. What the team needed was a culture boost.
Story by Jonathan Becher on November 1, 2011
In turbulent times like a recession or a post-merger integration, the issue of low trust can escalate from a chronic condition to a major flare-up.
Hack by Anna Stillwell on June 9, 2010
 Look, we have to find lots of ways to help our organizations  -- sometimes one person or one team at a time -- move toward the future.
Hack by Dan Oestreich on September 21, 2010
My innovation audit produced outcomes that people did not want to hear. Come with me on the journey that positively creates a framework/vision to take my organisation forward.&n
Hack by David Nolan on December 23, 2010
The assumption that employees must be hierarchically controlled has frustrated organizational innovation for decades.  We and five well-known business leaders stumbled upon the solution to this i
Hack by Bill Nobles on June 4, 2010

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