Back in 1961, the Scottish author Alastair Maclean wrote the thriller ‘Fear is the Key’. A gripping yarn in which the protagonist, Talbot, traps two guilty men and uses their fear of imminent death to extract a full confession of guilt.

Fear of something unpleasant happening in the future is a powerful motivator. Psychologists suggest it is part of the self-preservation system that was hard-wired into humans through the evolutionary process. 

Anticipation of danger develops individual alertness and readiness to act. But these ‘benefits’ are short term. Fearfulness requires a huge amount of energy to sustain, and it subordinates every other activity. In fact, it shuts down the most valuable two thirds of human brain activity. Leaving a person dependent on the most primitive part of their brain. The part that helps a lizard to survive when he’s exposed on a rock!

So, we might rightly conclude that fear is not a helpful emotion to create at home or at work. Fear stifles creativity. Fear inhibits conversation. Fear prevents collaboration. Fear extinguishes hope and threatens love.

Surely very few business people would wish to create a fearful organisational culture? But many who could encourage positive emotional responses from colleagues choose instead to behave in ways that increase fear:

• Setting impossible deadlines
• Giving contradictory instructions
• Threatening retribution
• Public humiliations
• Creating relentless cycles, without pausing to reflect on learnings or celebrate achievements.

I used to think that poor communication was the Achilles Heel of collective human endeavour, but it isn’t. Fear is the key.