Even in the best circumstances, leadership requires courage. We’ve all seen how doubt, insecurity and fear make organizational challenges more difficult and, in extreme cases, insurmountable. Fear in leaders can take down a company in many ways:
- Indecisiveness, leading to missed opportunities
- Emotional deception, which prompts bad decisions
- Suppression of people, forcing high turnover
- Insecurity that manifests as self-centeredness
- Confusion that causes leaders to miss threats at the doorstep
You see, fearful leaders often cannot deal with difficult issues or conversations, so moderate troubles balloon into true crises. They also resist taking the risks necessary to move their companies forward.
Fears can take many forms: discomfort, incapacity, negative feelings, failure and self-criticism. Each carries numerous side effects, most rooted in a fear of rejection. Fears make a leader ineffective and paralyzed. Plans are often forfeited, as is success.
The goal is to avoid compensating for them and, instead, identify and overcome them. Leaders who can successfully put their fears behind them—and learn from them—make the greatest strides.
The fear-reduction process has four fundamental pillars, as outlined by management consultant Peter Bregmen in Leading with Emotional Courage: How to Have Hard Conversations, Create Accountability, and Inspire Action on Your Most Important Work (Wiley, 2018):
- Fears are greatly influenced by a lack of self-confidence. Leaders who boost their confidence address the most challenging of the four pillars.
- Strengthen your relationships and support structure.
- Practicing intentionality moves leaders farther away from fear through focus and an effective game plan.
- Facing fears directly and exposing them puts them behind you for good.
What do you think? As a leader, what has been your experience with doubt, insecurities and fear? I’d love to hear from you. You can call me at 561-582-6060, or, I can be reached here or on LinkedIn.
