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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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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
“Leadership days”? These would involve rearranging the organisation for a day so that managers can relinquish control to an employee one level down in the hierarchical structure.
Hack by Keshal Sookha on October 18, 2011
We need to reduce the amount of rules used in the world of management in order to promote people's judgment and practical wisdom.
Hack by Elad Sherf on May 27, 2010
Shift from an obsession with financial forecasting to becoming expert in behaviour and attitude forecasts.
Hack by Chris Shambrook on June 14, 2013
Embracing the principles of Autonomy & Trust and Openess & Transparency, this hack aims to establish the credibility and value of HR as a business partner by adapting the language and measurem
Hack by Harrison Withers on July 17, 2013
At the core of a healthy organization is the idea that people are respected and valued for their different gifts/strengths/talents.
Hack by Josh Allan Dykstra on June 27, 2011
If I asked you a make a list of high performing teams - the kind that deliver world class results under tremendous pressure every day, chances are, a management committee wouldn't feature.
Hack by Stephen Remedios on November 1, 2011
All industry types have one resource in common; their Suppliers.Harness Supplier creativity to gain resource creation by:Selecting suppliers with different
Hack by Moisés Noreña on February 6, 2013
Co-Authored By Terry Deegan
As management have remained unchanging for the last 60 years, companies continue struggling to fully “use” the best capabilities –and intentions - of their employees by eternally trusting in an organi
Hack by Cesar Malacon on October 21, 2011
No one likes annual performance reviews. Managers hate doing them and employees hate getting them. Instead of wasting time on this, I suggest totally eliminating the annual perforance review.
Hack by Marton Jojarth on June 30, 2015

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