Workplace Anxiety

The New York Times ran an article yesterday discussing the impact of fear, specifically the fear of losing one's job in uncertain economic times. (Fear Factor in the Workplace)

Various experts weighed in on how the anxiety prevalent in today's workplace is stifling productivity, risk-taking and creativity.

Myra White, a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, interviewed for the article, made the following assessment:

“Anxiety affects people’s memories and ability to concentrate. They forget names of people or forget what they need to do. They often don’t process information well, and have trouble understanding and following instructions. No matter how carefully you explain what you want them to do, they can’t seem to get it right. It is easy for bosses to mistake the lapses for signs of incompetence or a lack of motivation rather than as the byproduct of high anxiety levels.”

While most of us in the Navy do not live with the day to day fear of being laid off for economic reasons, we do live in a culture that is steeped in anxiety. Hyper-competitiveness, impossible to meet deadlines (often artificially designated) and a “Zero Tolerance for Error” mindset lead to the same psychological fallout as the angst faced in the corporate workforce during the recession.

And it is pervasive. The majority of my bosses were openly fearful of repercussions from up the chain of command, seriously impacting their ability to be creative, effective leaders. Likewise, the JO conventional wisdom that one does not leave the ship before the XO, even if it means hanging around playing Xbox in their staterooms for a couple hours, is certainly not adding to the productivity of the wardroom.

Even the move to rank all Ensigns and JG's as Promotable to remove the competitiveness from period where the Officer should be concentrating on qualifications is seen as an open joke. No one works under the illusion that their DIVO fitreps are not being scrutinized for how they compared to their peers.

This atmosphere ends up reducing productivity severely. As Dr. White puts it, “Anxiety can also elicit strong emotional reactions....(People) engage in endless checking behavior — like checking several times to make sure they turned off a piece of equipment or proofreading a report over and over to confirm they have completed it correctly. This behavior increases the time it takes to do something. What took 10 minutes becomes 20 minutes.”

But all experts agree that certain amount of stress is good for productivity. So how can we fine tune that balance so that we are getting better, more creative work done?

In my opinion, we must continue to work with high standards and reasonable, well thought-out and well-planned deadlines and clearly defined goals that have been created well in advance.

But be flexible. Have tolerance for situations where the goals either cannot be met, or cannot be satisfied to the degree that was originally planned. Be open to having your subordinates tell you “No” once in a while. Perhaps most important of all, protect your Officers and Sailors from those above you who are still trapped in an atmosphere of fear and want to transmit it downstream.

Let's hear your ideas in the comments!