The last night in Frankfurt was filled with talk about friendships and paths that we take from the random mix of people we meet on projects and in work settings. I asked Georgia why people feel the need to wear masks at work. Wouldn't it be so much simpler to just focus on the positive outcome everyone is chasing rather than hold back and focus on the image we are perceived to be projecting? Why can't we just feel satisfied in delivering exciting content? She made a good point though about workplace anxiety. Honesty is vulnerability, and most people fear that this honesty will be used against them. The more effort and focus we place on helping the fragile ego survive in our hostile world, the less we feel able to express untested ideas, new approaches or things that people cannot imagine. According to the Forbes article, the most common workplace anxieties are:
• fear of speaking in public
• fear of interacting with authority figures
• fear of taking on new challenges
• fear of being noticeably nervous
• perfectionism
I would add to that list, fear of interacting with real customers. Some companies take a radical approach to limiting the impact of such emotional bias in their decision making. The reality os though that the need for emotional security still jumps in to protect us before the rational mind can get involved.
How much more creative would a group be if we could simply accept vulnerability as a strength. A necessary condition to allow growth and protect the company against stagnation.
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