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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 a Hack about creating a collaborative community of trust online to spark innovations in management.
Hack by Dan Oestreich on October 11, 2010
There a 2 slides from the Equality Trust's "Spirit Level" web site.  They show the statistical co-relation between levels of trust and income inequality.  The core message is that in countri
Hack by John H Pearce on October 10, 2010
Increasing trust and reducing fear has a causal relationship to the meritocratic organization coupled to strong internal leadership.  Trust and fear is indicative of xenophobia endemic to the fir
Hack by Vidia S. Ramdeen on October 8, 2010
The widely held notion that the Chain of Command is no longer prevalent in the organizational dynamic is untrue.  Although many companies claim to not adhere to a formal organ
Hack by Vidia S. Ramdeen on October 6, 2010
A well-known consulting firm in urban and rural planning was losing momentum as many of its consultants were approaching retirement. Based on a tailored customer survey, ValueMetrix provided the
Story by Anders Magnusson on October 6, 2010
Five years ago I coached a software development group who absolutely hated one of their members(let's say "Alice") who appeared abusive, condescending, and arrogant -- but was also acknowledged t
Story by Gary Cook on October 4, 2010
The first day on the job is normally a day of discovery but it can also turn out to be a day full of action.Without knowing what to do or how to run the company, you can become a recognized leader jus
Story by Erik Van Rompay on October 1, 2010

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