🚀 go-pugleaf

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
John and list personnel,  I find the results to be on-the-mark, and to add
my beliefs on why "workers rate DRIVE OUT FEAR so low."
I believe that many managers have not been trained to be leaders of people.
They are hard-chargers that got where they are through individual efforts.
THAT'S not bad, but many of them haven't been taught the "soft" human skills
leadership, and therefore they don't show their respect or express their
caring toward their employees when performing the job or other problems.
Essentially they are not authentic -- because this is foreign ground.  As
it is with many of the male species.  Many of the managers are autocratic
and rule by intimidation.  They don't build trust and they don't "bond" with
their employees.  They seldom even gets the words "thank you" out of their
mouths.  Yes, I agree that these managers are "insensitive" and that is
primarily the fault of HR putting (or being forced to put) this type of
hard-charger into management positions.  These individual contributors who
kiss their way up or are the "yes" men of the organization (rather than the
team players) continue the legacy of autocratic management.
The more we teach cooperation, collobrative decision-making, involvement,
trust, honor, respect, etc. -- the more we'll eliminate fear in the workplace.
At a recent AQP meeting, we stated the following qualities and behaviors of
a good leader:  Thinks optimistically, enthusiastic, motivates others, cheer-
leader, mentor/coach, observational, intuitive, good listener, risk taker,
sincere, honest, fair, sense of humor, respectful, ambious, exciting,
customer-focused, and participative.
I'm sure there are other attributes, & I see the lack of these attributes as
being the "root cause" of creating/maintaining fear environments.  Too often
these factors cause our employees to feel not cared about, not respected, and
unimportant, non-valued, and this leads to their frustration, ulcers and
medical problems.  This "sadness" is a key piece of what TQM should try to
correct.  If for no other reason, promote TQM (with human leadership included)
in your organizations to make life more satisfying for employees.  Eliminate
the stressful/abrasive elements, and as Deming says "Drive out fear," by
putting the right people in management, promoting a team company culture, and
all those other TQM elements.
...... Gerry  (P.S. If anyone uses this material for an article, please do,
and you are hereby authorized to use it, quote it -- provided you use it
in a positive manner and use it to promote the right TQM/good leadership
principles)  (If you want to give some credit my way - just mention Gerry
Benner, but don't feel obligated)  It's really a matter of research.  I've
been in quality for more than 20 years, and doing research during the last
40+ years, but who cares -- it's the quality of the stuff that matters!
TQM without eclectic actions is dead (just a little humor for those that
get it)  -- Sorry for being verbose.    ... Gerry