Holiday 2003/2004

Q: My project manager recently threatened me with the loss of my job. I wasn't actually fired, but I was told that I was in jeopardy of being fired. I was not told what I could do to change the situation. Ever since that discussion, I have felt sick and depressed; and as time goes by and no other discussion is happening, I feel more and more angry. I have heard you talk about a "covenant for safety" and the importance of trust in our work. When those in management are in control of all the information and have all the power and can fire us without discussion or support, how can we trust them?

A: Fear is a robber. It steals far more than your joy for your work; it steals your sense of well-being, and that alone becomes a trigger for experiencing more fear and mistrust. Fear steals your ability to create. It depletes your capacity to commit to your project. It robs you of motivation to sustain your efforts. Fear can indeed make you feel ill. Instilling fear in another is a powerful tactic that leaves its victims feeling abused. In the end, the holder of the fear focuses on reacting instead of acting.

The threats people (both families and professionals) fear that they e-mail me or call me about the most generally focus on the threat of (and ultimate) loss of funding for their grassroots organization and/or loss of their job and the jobs of the people that work with them or the loss of their personal reputation and good standing. Often these go together. Even when they fear the loss of jobs for the people who work with them, however, a dynamic slowly evolves that leaves few staff capable of trusting even one another. This slow disintegration of trust eventually erodes even the strongest of relationships.

Using fear as a tactic in management reduces people, makes them smaller than they are, not larger. Such a tactic is the result of not using other newly acquired or recognized practices that can thrive only in an environment where all people are valued as individuals; are useful; learn together; are openly invited to bring their strengths, skills and knowledge to the work; and, thus, feel good about themselves.

You hear me talk about a "covenant for safety" because building trust requires a separate vision from the vision we talk about for our work. We can have a strong vision for our work, we can frame it and give a copy to each employee, and each employee can hang that vision on the wall of his or her office, but that will not ensure a safe environment built on trust. Such an environment requires a vision of its own that is about hope and provides a way to live daily in interaction with each other. Our personal relationships in our daily work are more powerful than our organizational or political relationships. They are crucial to our success. In the end, our work gets done because of the quality of these relationships with each other, not because of job descriptions or policies.

Instead of focusing on the vision hanging on our wall, we must internalize the concepts, core values, and principles inside of the people-from the top down and the bottom up. Trusting people, trusting families (and the people who align with and support them), and believing that these same people thrive in an environment that ensures voice and choice, an open exchange of information and opinions, even when those opinions are not in concert with others, reflect our deepest value as Americans. This is not a value developed by system of care. This is a value developed and sustained by us over several hundred years as a democratic nation.

When information is not shared freely, when closed doors are signs of closed conversations, we run the risk of increasing cynicism and suspicion. Good leaders open discussions that allow group understanding and agreement. In an environment where that is possible, where even difficult discussions can be held, leaders quickly learn that people welcome new opportunities for development and growth. In fact, human beings have a deep desire for personal growth and when such personal growth happens, people bind together in a shared promise to one another to protect each other. That is, in essence, the work of the "covenant for safety" tool you have heard me speak of in previous gatherings. No matter how much control or power a single person has or thinks she or he has, it will never result in eliciting a shared promise to each other based on trust. Only internalizing the value of trust in each person involved in the daily work will do that.