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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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While the trend with most companies today is to block employee use of social network sites like Facebook and Twitter, Edmunds.com, Inc.
Story by Katti Fields on July 15, 2011
It is the application of Knowledge that delivers results not possession. Blindness to personal handicaps and tunnel vision is common.
Barrier by Raj Kumar on August 31, 2010
Non-compliance can be viewed as a ‘problem’ resulting in solutions which are hoping to resolve that ‘problem’.
Hack by Heidi De Wolf on July 17, 2013
Our Hack was inspired by Coens & Jenkin’s book “Abolishing Performance Appraisals.”  There are several other academic books and papers, blog postings, and even hacks that recommend doing away
Hack by Andy Lippok on July 16, 2013
HCL Technologies overhauled its annual business planning process, turning it into an opportunity for a) grooming future leaders, b) pushing the envelope of organizational transparency, and c) leveragi
Story by Shubhi Mittal on October 30, 2013
As legacy business thinking attempts to stagger away from the ingrained practices of the Industrial era towards modernity nothing is in need of a more radical re-assessment than the view of the employ
Hack by Mike Parker on April 10, 2016
I propose that the transformation of the 20th century into the 21st be the Age of Answers to the Age of Questions.  While answers are important, it’s more important to know what qu

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