I've been musing a lot about fear in the last week - it's always present in our work (and in our lives) but often below the level of our conscious awareness. I've been focusing on it more consciously because of a series of workshops I've been giving looking at behaviour from a neuro-biology perspective. Fear (avoidance of threat / danger) is one of the primary organising principles of the brain.
Fear can be a useful stimulant. At reasonable levels, it certainly mobilises us to action. Unfortunately, the brain chemicals which stimulate action have the side effect of disabling new thinking. So we are energised to act, but on instinct or habit rather than by conscious choice. This is why people rarely find original or creative solutions under stress or in a crisis - they simply do more of what they have always done. Look at the Financial Services industry in the last few years (or European politicians in the last few months). Part of a leaders job is to decrease, not increase, the fear. Yet few seem to know that this is what they should do, let alone how to do it.
Fear is decreased when we recognise it. Too often we attempt to suppress fear by denial, or by using another covering emotion like anger, which only makes the brain's fear response stronger. To really free ourselves from fear, we should actively look out for it and name it when we feel it. It seems that in recognising our fear, we are also recognising that the threat is in our head rather than external. As the old phrase goes, "there is nothing to fear except fear itself". In other words, what we fear is our interpretation of the situation rather than the situation itself. This is why re-framing also works so well as the second step in reducing fear - it changes our view of a situation so it is not a threat but an opportunity.
Fear can even be what stops some people coming to coaching or from exploring their deeper issues within the coaching. For example, there are the generic fears associated with the Centaur character styles, ie fear of looking foolish / vulnerable, fear of the coach's disapproval, fear of being seen as ordinary / worthless, or simply fear of being seen at all. (I've only listed four, as the fifth style's fear - fear of being ignored / deprived - is not likely to stop them entering into coaching, though it may stop them resolving their issues and thus ending the coaching.) Like a leader, part of the coach's role is to recognise and help decrease the fear, so as to enable new thinking.
So I believe coaches and leaders both have to be comfortable with fear. What are you afraid of?!
