In many workplaces, leaders are guilty of fostering a culture of insecurity because they believe people can be more easily led in that atmosphere. On the surface, it does not appear that productivity is suffering as a result of this approach. People keep performing out of worry of being reprimanded or fear that they could lose their jobs. However, productivity could be significantly more if the environment was conducive to trust and openness. All of us bring something different to the table, and when this diversity is celebrated rather than berated, the organization culture stands the chance of being renewed and positioned for greater success. After all, no matter how good we are individually, more is accomplished when we work collaboratively on the same tasks with the same purpose bringing to bear all that we are.
Dr. Mark Scullard, a PhD psychologist who serves as senior director of product innovation for Wiley’s Workplace Learning Solutions division, has studied distrust in the workplace and found its source: individual insecurity. It’s not insecurity itself that’s the problem, though; it’s our drive to cover it up. In a new eBook, The Invisible Drain on Your Company’s Culture, Scullard traces the spread of dysfunctional behaviors at work to the secret self-doubts that beset each of us and outlines a solution.
In this article and Dr. Mark Scullard’s eBook, we are urged to consider how organizational culture helps or hurts company and people performance.