Cultural change: leading by compassion or fear?

Being in the work of compassionate communication, I do tend to have some very interesting conversations. I recently met a couple at a social gathering who have been running their own business for the last 11 years. They are at their growth spurt transition and are having an issue with staff satisfaction.

Andy mentioned to me that not so long ago, he had a mass exodus of staff from his firm. There had been, "a lot of negativity flying about" and Andy decided to fire a whole group of people. There were some who managed to delay their departure, as they felt things were not run well and they knew a better way. Andy very bullishly said to them; "okay, well if you think things can be run differently then why don't you show me?" This approach didn't fair well for them or Andy, as these people in the end also left. I can only assume by the amount of antagonism they felt from Andy. 

What Andy did do, unlike a lot of business owners I meet (who do have a habit of burying their head in the sand), he actually asked the people who were being negative to show him the way they thought was better. Great right? Well he was certainly on the right path...... had he been sincere in actually wanting to learn a better way. 

Instead of really being open to the changes that were being suggested Andy took the negativity personally and had set his staff up to fail. The people that were left i.e. the ones who had not been fired or felt pushed out, Andy called into a meeting room and had told them that if he heard anymore negativity in the office, that there would be more head rolling and more people would be fired. He believed his company was then in a good place. 

I wonder if this new found "optimism" in his staff is genuine or if it is out of a fear of loosing their jobs. What Andy has managed to do is create an environment that his staff do not feel that they can open up to him and collaborate on a way of improving things. It saddened me when Andy didn't even really care what the root cause of the negativity was and actually try to solve the problem. He just stuck a band aid over it and now leads from a place of fear.

Fear and antagonism causes stress and unhappiness. If you want a committed and productive team, then you must be willing to open yourself up and ask the difficult questions and be prepared to not take the feedback personally.

My parting advice to Andy and anyone who identify's with Andy's predicament is to Listen, Collaborate and Solve!

And yes I am, now saying those 3 things to the tune of ice ice baby in my head.