Do you want courageous or fearful employees?

The question of whether to breed fear or courage in your employees seems to have an obvious answer—courage. But the way some companies approach workforce management, you would think they mostly wanted fearful employees.

A column in Forbes ponders whether companies are nurturing fear or courage. Writer Margie Warrell offers courage-boosting suggestions such as creating a bold vision and a shared sense of mission, and helping employees get comfortable feeling uncomfortable.

When I passed by a Starbucks this morning, I noticed a small blackboard posted on the sidewalk advertising drinks to help passersby “cool down.” I started wondering how much liberty store managers had to decide what to promote in such street advertising. Does a corporate directive come down to all the stores telling them what to post on their sidewalk chalkboards or in their windows? Or can a store manager decide that advertising ways to cool down doesn’t make sense given the recent weather?

 

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