Vulnerability-based Fear

"How will companies decide who to keep? Old age, overweight, and 'Oh, is that an inhaler?'”

Building Trust in the New World

For years I have been teaching that trust is built on vulnerability. Competency was merely table stakes, but the choice of vulnerability was the key to building safe, trusting teams.

In today’s world everyone has become painfully vulnerable. Nobody chose this, but we have it. With vulnerability comes fear, and fear is a pandemic today.

Fear changes our actions in everyday life.  We cross the street when someone is walking toward us; we wear a mask that covers a smile or frown; we avoid handshakes. (BTW, in 400 BC, a handshake was an important gesture in Rome as a sign that the other person was safe, …in 2020 AD we’re not so sure.)

Fear will change our work life as well. HR leaders are considering tactics like taking employees’ temperature at the door, asking how they commuted to work, blocking off desk space, or limiting an elevator to four people or less. Some organizations have started using technology that runs checks every 10 minutes on companies’ computers to see what employees are working on. Businesses want fewer people in the office, and truth be told, many want fewer people altogether.

How will companies decide who to keep? Will those who are considered the most vulnerable be on the wrong side of unemployment? Old age, overweight, and “Oh, is that an inhaler?” could all be threats to future employment. Many countries in Europe are considering “immunity passports” that will qualify a person for travel if they have medical proof that they have had the virus and recovered. Will that become a hiring standard as well?

It’s in this new world we must consider trust, and how to rebuild it. Selling vulnerability today is like selling steak to a vegan. 

As we move forward to open the country corporate leaders must start with the most basic of fears: physical safety. This includes both a safe living / working environment, as well as a means to make a living.

As we move back to working together in this new environment, those who are vulnerable to losing their jobs will naturally be less likely to become more vulnerable by admitting their mistakes and weaknesses. CEO’s and other senior leaders will be vulnerable too. They can’t make market projections like they used to; decision making will be harder with higher stakes. 

Trust won’t be rebuilt easily. 

Research revealed in “The Leadership Challenge” by Barry Posner and James Kouzes showed that the #1 quality people look for in a leader is honesty. Honesty is closely tied to values and ethics. 

For years I have called this concept, “Dealing in the Currency of the Truth”.  Not half-truths, nor couched truth, just honest truth.   We find that often the unknown is more frightening than the known. When people are left in the dark, they don’t move along as if “nothing” is happening. They know “something” is happening, and they will tell themselves a story to fill in the blank spaces. The stories are never good.

Building trust in today’s environment means first understanding how the environment has changed. People lives and livelihoods are suddenly more vulnerable than ever before. Fear is abundant and to be expected. 

Ambiguities must be minimized wherever possible. Without communication on key factors such as current state, strategies, and purpose, an organization will quickly feel untethered from leadership and fear will spread like a virus. The virus of fear may cause greater long-term financial damage than months of shutdown. 

The antidote to fear is courage. I’ve often thought this is the most under recognized characteristic of a good leader. 

Honesty that builds trust is rare and can be counter intuitive in a dangerous time. It will take courage to lead in this area.

As you prepare to resume strategic operations, realize the people may be the same, but the landscape has changed, both externally and internally and we must be courageous.