Hope you all had a blast this past holiday weekend! I had an awesome time with all sorts of fun activities with bowling, karaoke party, a crazy drive to the Natural Bridge at Virginia and the most amazing part of all was the time spent painting with my 4 year old naughty niece that had added more colors to my Thanksgiving celebrations! And this is one of her creations- and I call it ‘The beauty of little mind’.
It is so amazing to see the little ones do stuff that we would never imagine. But when they experiment things out of curiosity it opens up a new chapter of learning! And of course, they are going to get encouraged by a ‘Good Job’ from their mommies. That is necessary for a positive reinforcement which makes them feel good and knowing that they are doing well increases their confidence. But most interestingly kids have neither any prejudice nor have any fear of failure in anything they do. Unlike us!
Fear & shame
We grown up people feel reluctant to try out different things and often feel embarrassed when our efforts turn out wrong. May be we are not actually concerned about not knowing how to go about trying out new stuff but maybe the underlying factor that is stopping us from stepping ahead in life and at work are fear and shame. Fear of losing something, of being shamed infront of people, realizing our flaws will be exposed and mostly fear of making a mistake!
A recent study done by Robert Half Group on employees fear at workplace says, 28% percent of respondents said their biggest fear is making a mistake. A few said dealing with a tough coworker or customer or conflicts with their manager are their biggest fear.
Now, what if you work with a fear of getting fired, feared of informing your manager that you are not enjoying the job that is assigned to you or afraid of doing the right things when the managers are not in your favor. And at the end of the day the disconnect in your effort will end up in shame anyway. This can kill your creativity and holds you back from working at your full potential!
Creativity & Innovation
Fear and shame is a poison that can numb people’s creativity and innovation. It would be very difficult to nurture your most inventive side under stress and it can only be conquered and utilized when people feel relaxed. So more than knowing what motivates your workers, knowing what turns them off is absolutely necessary and you can know it by having an open communication culture at your workplace.
Having a supportive and appreciating work relationship is critical in making the employees feel that their mistakes are ok, which makes them think beyond their capacity and start innovating. It helps you to get the most out of your workforce.
