KEY POINTS:
Using fear tactics to change behaviour is commonplace in society. We fear our teeth aren't white enough, that we may smell bad if we don't use a particular deodorant or that we should buy more health insurance "just in case".
In the same way that some advertisers play on our fears to sell us their products, so do some managers - but these managers are not selling anything, they are giving it away in bucketloads to their staff.
Fear is a motivator and no one knows this more than the manager who causes employees to take a sharp intake of breath whenever they enter the room. But why do some people in authority use fear tactics on their colleagues rather than encourage them in a positive way to do well?
Aucklander Colin Sisson travels the world helping people to overcome their fears and to increase their self-esteem by promoting a breathing technique called breath integration.
Sisson's says it is based on the philosophy that we create our lives according to what we consciously and unconsciously believe. He says some managers use fear to get people to do things just because it works faster than helping them to do a good job.
"But it is only a short term way of managing people and it does not build a true leadership environment," says Sisson. "Nor does it foster long-term inspiration or cooperation among workers. Such managers are mainly fear motivated themselves because of the people above them. They probably feel quite inadequate in their personal lives and being a manager gives them a sense of power. Hitler is the classic example."
Fear breeds fear it seems - and the result, says Sisson, is industrial unrest and uncooperative workers who have no interest in the company or its aims.
"Staff will work harder when the boss is watching, but behind the scenes. The work environment may be efficient. But the atmosphere will be sterile, with strong office politics and unhealthy competition among workers."
Dr Giles Burch is a consulting psychologist and a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland Business School. His primary research and teaching interests are personality and motivation at work, performance management and reward systems.
Dr Burch says using fear to motivate people is really a threat of punishment and that staff should instead be offered positive rewards as an incentive to achieve tasks.
"Using fear as a motivator is a 'do this or else' type of management," he says. "These people are bullies. They lie, have no remorse or guilt, are coercive and will put the fear of God into people to get what they want.
"Not everybody is a psychopathic manager though. Some people are just bad managers and think that using threats can be effective. Others are just naïve."
But the result or effect on staff is the same whether the manager is calculatingly mean or just plain bananas. Either way, using threats is not a good thing says Burch.
"Living in fear does have an impact on people - it will create anxiety that will have a knock-on effect on to team culture, team climate and the organisation as a whole as paranoia and suspicion starts developing."
He says there is basically two types of people - those who strive to do a good job to get a bonus or a promotion and those who do a good job because they are scared stiff of what the boss will say or do.
"An anxious person will deliver on time because they are worried about being told off or fear the consequences. There is a phrase: 'worriers can be winners'. And what that means is someone who worries will get the job done - not because of the reward they may get - but because they have a sensitivity to punishment."
Burch says a lot of the research on behaviour is more than 30 years old, which is why he is currently undertaking a study of it in conjunction with Swansea University in Britain.
"We are trying to apply what we are learning about motivation to the workplace, but it is early days," he says. "What we are finding though is that motivation is probably hard wired in our brains."
Help for a victim is at hand though. Sisson says people who fear the boss must deal with their own fears first - and among them will be the fear of authority. "Fear of the boss is mainly a fear of authority," says Sisson. "It can often be traced back to the relationship with their parents, and they have allowed their boss to become a substitute parent.
"Most people don't want to live in fear and they can change to have a more positive outlook in their lives. They can change by making their fears fully conscious by embracing them. By connecting with and understanding their fears, the fears will drop away forever.
"The more people try to be positive by adopting the American style 'fake it until you make it' philosophy, the more these people will distance themselves from who they really are. Feelings that are buried alive never die. They come back and haunt us later in life in the form of physical diseases and psychoses."
While it appears easy to identify the most feared boss in the company, it is interesting to look at what a true leader looks like and what bad bosses can aspire to. Sisson says a good manager is someone who is in touch with or who has dealt with the fears they have picked up - in particular the fears they faced in the first seven years of their life.
"Inspired leaders are mainly driven by their desire to find purpose and vision. This is done through cooperation and harmony between people," he says. "They are flexible, adaptive and values such as integrity, courage, and compassion are important to them.
"Inspired leaders walk their talk, are creative problem solvers, and have a high sense of personal responsibility that does not fall into slavish duty or obligation. They recognise their limitations and are willing to be honest and vulnerable.
"Leading with the heart is about making our people the priority. It is shifting the focus from task accomplishment as the first priority to people priority. The most successful companies in the world today make their people more important than other resources such as products, customer service, markets and finances.
"They do this by creating everyone in their organisation from the top executive to the floor cleaner to become a decision maker in their particular field of cooperation. Everyone is taught how to be a leader. These companies teach their people responsibility. I believe that responsibility is one of the most important cornerstones of leadership."
HANDLE YOUR FEAR
* Face up to it - sometimes, the fear of something is worse than the thing itself.
* Talk to someone - find someone you can trust, and share how you feel.
* Don't worry about things at night.
* Do get good food and exercise.
* Try and get out of your usual surroundings - go somewhere else.
* Get involved in things that take your mind off worries.
* Fears and worries will grow bigger if you don't deal with them.
* If fear and worry are affecting your health, or leading to depression, see a health professional.
WHAT IS BREATH INTEGRATION?
According to Colin Sisson, breath integration is a natural process of inner awakening through the expansion of awareness. It helps people connect with emotions and fears (often suppressed) that control our lives from the subconscious. This awareness dissolves these inner blocks and awakens our three functions in a new conscious way: thoughts, emotions and body. This leads to opening our whole being and connecting with creativity, inspiration and intuition.
