Fear versus Attraction

Written by Roxanne Brown

You can use fear to make people change. It is a legitimate change strategy, especially in an immediate danger situation. But what happens is people freeze in place and only do what you tell them to do. They keep their heads down and keep to themselves. From time to time they’ll pop their heads up to look around to see if anything has changed. Then they go back to being heads-down. They’re frozen in place waiting for the next direction. It’s the safest thing to do.

Another strategy is attraction, attracting people to the vision of a new world you imagine. When you communicate your vision you help people see their place in this world and how they can bring their unique talents to make it happen. You inspire their action to your vision.

The effort you exert using fear versus attraction is different. The amount of effort may be the same but the nature of your effort is very different. Fear gets you speed but you will always be the person people come to for all the answers. Attraction requires patience and trust in the process but empowers your team to solve problems appropriate to their role and place in the company.

The strategy you choose will impact you.