According to a recent study conducted by consultant Margot Faraci, a new poll of workplace leaders reveals an unconscious fear pervading modern-day leadership, leading to toxic culture, stunted growth, performance and productivity, and decision inertia. The global study of 2,500 emerging leaders in corporate businesses found that approximately one quarter (23 percent) of UK leaders are unconsciously creating an environment of fear with direct reports. Globally, this figure rises to one in three (30 percent), indicating a growing worldwide phenomenon of fearful leadership. The implications of fearful leadership for team morale, performance, and overall well-being within organisations are significant and can be attributed to past experiences, creating an ongoing cycle of leadership driven by fear.

Unfortunately, fearful leadership, whether conscious or unconscious, is costing UK businesses, and the wider UK economy, a £2.2 billion drop in productivity and performance. Fearful leadership is also creating a culture of mistrust, as while fearful leaders are confident in themselves, half (48 percent) do not trust their direct reports to handle situations as they arise.

Fear-based leaders are defined as those that either always or often experience anxiety, micromanagement, imposter syndrome, anger, unwillingness to receive feedback, hesitancy to speak up, complacency and quiet quitting. These leaders lose 10 hours a week in productivity for their companies, equivalent to £9,545 a year per leader, or £2.2 billion annually.

The study aimed to uncover unconscious fear in leadership, by delving into leaders’ behaviors and experiences. The results are alarming:

• Nine in 10 (88 percent) are consistently fearful of being wrong or making mistakes.
• A further 82 percent consistently feel high pressure to demonstrate value.
• Two in three (67 percent) are hesitant to speak up with their own point of view.
• Nearly half (45 percent) are unwilling to give feedback to their direct reports or managers.
• One third (33 percent) regularly deliver or experience micromanagement.
• Well over a tenth (15 percent) regularly experience anxiety or nerves surrounding work.
• One in 20 (9 percent) regularly experience anger or frustration.

According to Margot Faraci, “This reflects what I’ve seen and experienced for decades in leadership: our fear of failure, our fear of being wrong or being outdone has devastating consequences for us personally and for our business performance. Fear shows up in various ways in leadership: being aggressive, avoiding difficult conversations, undermining others or staying small to be safe. All of these behaviors are damaging to the system and ourselves.”

Fearful leadership is often rooted in inexperience and a lack of self-confidence, leading to increased stress, fatigue, and impaired decision-making. The consequences of fearful leadership on team morale, well-being, performance, and productivity are clear:

• One third (33 percent) of fearful leaders state they regularly witness declines in employee and team performance.
• Two in five (38 percent) fearful leaders acknowledge there is a decrease in team morale.
• One in five (21 percent) suffer from strained relationships within their teams.
• A further fifth (21 percent) also say their ability to be creative is hindered.

Margot Faraci added, “Fear is not the way to lead for performance and engagement. Fear makes leaders work harder than they would otherwise need to, and it has the same effect on everyone around them. Coming to work and performing sustainably is almost impossible in a fearful system. Fearful leaders often overcompensate by seeking to over-index compassion and sensitivity, thinking that will increase productivity. But, they don’t actually demonstrate compassionate or sensitive behaviors, instead ramping up either micromanagement or hands-off management. To break this cycle requires self-awareness that defaulting to micromanagement and hands-off management squashes compassion and loses the benefits that true compassion can deliver. My question to fearful leaders is: do you love yourself enough to acknowledge your own fear and deal with it?”