Anxiety and uncertainty are common realities in the current climate. This is not helped by the often complex nature of decision-making, the range of uncertainties and the extensive scrutiny. This cannot be eliminated through procedures or training, so the question is: how do organisations effectively address anxiety and uncertainty?
The impact of Psychology on Organisational Culture
It is important to acknowledge that organisations are not machines but human systems, which succumb to the same neurological and psychological behaviour patterns as a single individual. The neurological 'survival-mode' reactions, namely the ‘Fight/Flight/Freeze’ response has allowed us to survive many threatening and challenging situations. These three survival patterns unlock three behaviours which can be recognised in the workplace where culture is left unchecked.
Fight may translate into frustration, impatience, anger, blame and even aggression towards others. Flight translates in denial ('head-in-the-sand' response), avoiding conflict and even isolation from others in the form of silo-working. The Freeze response leads to feeling overwhelmed and paralysed, ruled by feelings of total powerlessness. In highly controlled and standardised organisational environments, the Freeze response becomes the order of the day and creates a high dependency culture, where the paralysed front line become overly dependent on those in power. As with any interaction, the behaviours of both parties are strengthened by the behaviour of the other. (The same can be observed in societies where control through rules is held by those in power)
A culture of blame, silo-working and high dependency often go hand-in-hand and lead to the believe that more control is needed to readdress this culture. As such, organisations who aim to move away from these cultures tend to employ/hold on to command-and control leaders and unwittingly create a vicious cycle of distrust, negativity, fear and low productivity, which in turn strengthens the culture they so desperately are trying to move away from.
Other observable behaviour patterns may include low motivation, moral and engagement levels. Because as human being, we can only take so much negative pressure, organisations start to see patterns of people leaving 'en mass'. More worryingly this includes some professions, such as teachers, nurses & social workers, who are taking career breaks or are leaving the profession all together.
Changing from Blame to Learning & Innovation
So if our organisational cultures are driven by human psychology, how then do leaders influence a different culture. Today there is much more talk about a need for leaders to be self-aware and emotionally intelligent. They need to be more familiar with human psychology and become 'orchestrators' or 'facilitators' of healthy organisational environments where our humanity, our uniqueness and our relationships are acknowledged as key ingredient to maintaining the health & sustainability of the organisation. Organisations need no longer be seen as machines to fix, but as communities to be brought together for the greater good.
The leaders role lies therefore in connecting people and ideas to encourage collaboration and innovation, rather than being the producers of the rules and standards with which people should unquestionably comply.
Leadership - Position or Mindset?
In today's highly complex world it may be required to take leadership one step further, driven by the question: 'Is leadership a position or is leadership a mindset?'
When - with bravery & confidence - the 'fences' are removed the potential exists that it will unleash leadership in everyone as it restores people's ability to choose and take control over their own surroundings. In actual fact, as adults we are all motivated by autonomy, mastery & purpose (Dan Pink). While some may think that this will lead to chaos, there is much proof that this self-organisation actually lead to further empowerment, quicker better-informed decisions and an improvement in service quality as they become more responsive to need.
The idea of self-organisation however is perceived as threat to certain positions of power within traditional hierarchies. The exploration of delegated powers and decision-making - unless 'taken with confidence by the frontline' - is only half-heartedly explored as a viable way forward by those whose positions feel threatened.
The truth is in organisations where organisational energy is spent on celebrating uniqueness, encouraging autonomy and collective intelligence (as opposed to being spent on creating uniformity, dependency and functionality) a culture of learning & innovation flourishes. The challenge often lies not in creating an Innovation Culture afresh, the challenge lies in the transformation of blame culture into innovation culture when working with people unwilling to delegate power and sacrifice the known for the unknown. Ironically, those people who are willing to sacrifice the known for the unknown are often those who end up on the outside building the new.
A summary
So, if Socrates was right when he said 'The Secret to Change is to focus all your Energy, not on Fighting the Old, but on Building the New' organisations need to take this into their stride when planning for the future. The cultural transformation & innovation they are looking to achieve may need to be supported beyond the boundaries of the organisation through support, collaboration and investment!
