Fear puts us on high alert. It signals danger may be present. Sometimes the fear is real, sometimes it is not. Fear plays a powerful and important role in our lives. Also in our organisational lives.
When new organisations show up. New theories and approaches. Or new people in our organisation. Fear is present. Sometimes it gently prances around, speaking softly. Other times it is a bull in a china shop, screaming at full volume. Usually, it is somewhere in between.
But fear might just be an indicator that we are considering doing the next right step. Yes, it might be scary. And yes, we need to consider various things, but all of these things are surmountable. Often one of the signals for fear is the unknown and doing something that might not work.
Unfortunately fear feels the same when our life is at risk and when something is unknown. Learning to know which is which is a crucial life skill. Fearing irrelevance due to something new is one of the strongest fears, especially organisationally. Unfortunately, the reaction is often to dig in and try to go back to the ‘good ol’ days’, which rarely works (ask Kodak).
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