The House That Fear Built

The conference room looks out over downtown Chicago, the buildings growing smaller and more dated as the eye drifts to the horizon. We are gathered here for the summary meeting; a final discussion of our findings after a week’s worth of investigation. I look at the faces of the locals and see two of seven are American citizens, conceivably born here in the United States. The rest are immigrants from Africa and Asia. This is the new face of I.T.
We have been paid to scrutinize their systems and report to their senior management anything we find that doesn’t fit the norm. Anything that doesn’t meet what is determined to be the ‘best practices’. After nine years in this industry, however, I am afraid that what I see is entirely the norm.
Their systems reflect their working environment. Everything is set up with the basic defaults. Very little has been modified. The minimum acceptable standards to keep a system up and running have been met. Their systems reflect an environment of fear.
My colleague, himself an immigrant, explained to me when we arrived that this company has undergone massive layoffs and outsourcing. Severe cost cutting goes on today and all of the staff are afraid they may lose their jobs. Any error we find and can attribute to one of them will go on the dreaded permanent record we heard so much about in school, only this permanent record is not so permanent. It can hasten one’s departure from such a company if a misstep or error is still fresh on the minds of management when the next round of cuts should come.
It’s my turn to speak. I explain how one system I found was woefully inadequate and in danger of failure. I tell the sorrowful tale of the misconfigurations I uncovered while diving into its depths. A hush falls over the room and all eyes turn towards one of the local engineers, a middle-aged man from the Ivory Coast.
First, he challenges my findings. I quote technical scripture. I explain why following the basic guidelines is desirable and the consequences for deviation. The heads of the other engineers turn back and forth between me and their colleague like onlookers at a tennis match. Beaten, the local engineer finally acknowledges his defeat by presenting me, and the room, with a litany of excuses. I feel no sense of victory, but only the usual sense of guilt and dirt.
Some of the excuses may be true. They are short-handed and unable to keep up with their workload. The business owners of those systems won’t allow them to make many changes. The software is vendor run. They haven’t been trained to operate those systems. The list goes on.
Underneath it, I know the real reason. Fear. To make a change means to put yourself forward as an expert, and if you are wrong, then your fate has been placed upon the gold altar of business needs to be downsized as the accountant-priests determine. And for an immigrant, this means more fear than your usual American citizen can realize. He could be deported if he can’t find another job. Aside from the vast economic blow to his family, he would also experience the crushing shame of being a failure, of having failed in the land of opportunity.
I meet his eyes but he looks away, shamed. The others accept my criticisms without comment. The manager pulls me aside after the meeting and asks that I attend another meeting in a week or two to provide guidance on making some of the recommended changes.
In my nine years in this industry, I have been fired or laid off a grand total of five times. I have never experienced a period of unemployment greater than a month. Almost every job transition has led to a better job with higher salary and better opportunity. I no longer fear being fired, though I understand why most do.
The culture of fear is as bred into corporations as the beancounting. Some managers use it perversely to gain an advantage or sense of self-worth. Most managers are as much of a victim of it as their employees. The fear begins to feed on itself and grow until it reaches a point where no risks will be taken, no lofty goals set. The fear of losing their job prevents the employees from doing their job.
If corporations are to thrive, they must break this cycle. Managers, develop a culture of calculated risk-taking by telling your employees that no one will be fired for making a mistake. Reward knowledge and excellence and the application of it in your environment, and you will find that not only will your culture change, but all aspects of your business, from technical to economical, will thrive.
From one of the best business managers I ever had, I learned an important lesson. I had just made a critical error while working on a server and cost our business unit time and money, and more importantly, a currency that must be hard won: credibility.
When I asked if I would be fired, he responded that I would not. “I would be a fool to fire you after I’ve just paid for you to learn a very expensive lesson.” Then with a twinkle in his eye he added, “Just don’t let it happen again.” And I didn’t. Ever.
You can’t win every time, but losing by forfeit is far more disgraceful than losing a well-played game. Managers, don’t let your people forfeit the game out of fear.