Supervisory Leadership

We human beings like to think that we are pretty sophisticated; and in some ways, we are. But in other ways we are just like a little furry forest critter, scrambling about and watchful for danger. Here are some things you should know about the critter and how it acts.

The unusual and the dangerous grab our attention. We are set up physiologically and psychologically to both notice potential threats and to remember dangerous incidents.

Anything we think could possibly be dangerous grabs our attention and holds it in a vice-like grip. If somebody who works for you thinks something bad might happen to them, what they concentrate on is the threat, and nothing else.

Before you can reason with them, you have got to take their perception of the threat away. Otherwise, you are doomed to communication failure.

We also remember unpleasant, dangerous, and threatening incidents and we associate them with the people connected to them. If you routinely jump up and down on your people, berate them, or belittle them, they will remember that, and very little else.

They won't remember the content of your message. They will remember how they felt. And what will happen then?

Well, then you will become the potential threat. And every time you show up, your folks will act like the little furry forest critter and try to protect themselves from you before they're ready to pay attention to anything else.

There is one more thing to remember. Their physiological and psychological system can't tell the difference between an angry you and saber-toothed tiger. All the physiological and psychological reactions are the same thing for them as for our little furry ancestors.

They freeze. They get tense. Their body gets ready to flee or to fight. And while all that's going on, they're not thinking about anything else.

Fear drives out productivity. So part of your job as a boss is to help your people feel safe.

If they spend all their time and energy getting ready to fight or flee, they won't do anything productive.

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