Why Fear is the Silent Killer of Team Performance

What kills the performance of teams? 

Why is it that teams of excellent people can massively underperform?

Introduction

A Team of Excellent Individuals Can Still be Poor Performers

What we can learn from how an England team including the highest goals scorer in Europe, the best player from the champions of Europe and the English player of the year and a glittering away of young talent and what’s been described as ‘the best midfield in the world’ perform so badly in the first two matches?

Lets look into the science.

There is one thing that kills the performance of a high performing team with excellent knowledge and ability, more than any other.

That thing is fear. 

Fear and Team Performance

Research evidence indicates that fear has several negative impacts on team performance:

1. Reduced innovation and creativity: Fear inhibits learning, cooperation, and innovation in teams. When employees are afraid to speak up or take risks, it stifles creativity and new ideas.
2. Impaired communication: Fear fosters an “epidemic of silence” where employees are reluctant to voice concerns or share information. This breakdown in communication can lead to increased risks and errors.
3. Negative impact on job performance: A study on 180 workers found that ‘fears were significantly negatively associated with well-being.’
4. Emotional exhaustion: Leader anxiety and fear can lead to emotional exhaustion in team members, which in turn negatively affects task performance and contextual performance.
5. Cognitive interference: Fear and anxiety can create cognitive interference for employees, further impairing their performance.
6. Decreased well-being: Research has also found significant relationships between employee well-being and important work outcomes like job performance.

The Problem with Facing Your Fears.

The common advice with fears is to face your fears to overcome them such as with exposure therapy. The problem is, you can’t overcome your fears, if you don’t know you are scared.

What is so insidious about fear, it is that we are often not aware of it.

It can kill performance from the shadows without us knowing it’s there.

Unconscious Fear

Unconscious fear is the phenomenon where people can not know or believe they are scared, but in reality, perform like someone who is.

That is because emotions can be processed on a subconscious level.

Blindsight is the phenomenon where people who are blind and not see, never the less respond emotionally to inputs in their vision.

This shows us the brain is processing emotional information without us being consciously aware or knowing about it. A phenomenon called implicit emotional processing.

But it is not just happening to our brain. It is also happening to our bodies as a whole. 

Our Bodies Respond to Fear Subconsciously.

Our autonomic nervous system which controls involuntary bodily functions, can react to fear-inducing stimuli even when the person is not consciously aware of the cause. This can include changes in heart rate, respiration, and galvanic skin response.

So our whole body can be scared without us knowing.

But even more insidious about the performance killer of fear.

Fear can transmit nonverbally through a team through emotional contagion. 

Emotional Contagion of Fear

Emotional contagion means that an emotion can be transmitted subconsciously through a team. Affecting everyone’s performance without anyone being aware of it.

Emotional contagion can work through:

• Nonverbal Cues: Emotions can be transmitted through facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and other nonverbal signals.
• Behavioral Mimicry: People often unconsciously mimic the emotional expressions and behaviors of others, leading to shared emotional states.
• Physiological Synchrony: In some cases, team members’ physiological responses (e.g., heart rate, stress levels) can become synchronised.

Team Identity and Performance

The identity of a team can also have a big impact on performance. If we have an identity where we believe we are brave and strong (e.g. footballers who perform well most of the rest of the time) when confronted by fear, what often happens is cognitive dissonance.

Our cognitive dissonance fools us to thinking we are not frightened even if physiologically we are. 

In fact the more braver and courageous we think we are, the more vulnerable we are when fear hits. As we don’t recognise it as fear.

So we should not be surprised when a team of high performing footballers suddenly struggle when confronted with a frightening stimulus. 

But all these things are true for all teams. 

People can think and act as if they are scared but be completely unaware of it, whilst the fear spreads throughout the team affecting everyone’s performance.

Workplace Fear and Team Performance

The effect of fear on team performance is most visible in sports. But in our workplace and  organisations e.g. teams can collectively lose confidence without anyone being consciously aware of it. e.g. creating a new product but people stop believing in it or whether a change will actually happen. How people perceive change can have a very big impact on their will adapt.

How to Conquer the Impact of Fear on Team Performance

If we are to stop fear and it’s impact on team performance we need to find ways to stop the silent spread of this killer. Just as fear can be spread. Courage and bravery can be transmitted in the exact same way through the same procesess. 

Frontline Leaders and Team Performance.

Frontline leaders are ideally placed to do this. Recognising the emotional state of a team can only be done with direct contact with the team, checking the emotional pulse. It can’t be done through bureaucratic processes and procedures. 

The Role of Leader on Conquering Fear

Leaders also have a very important role in role modeling the behaviours they want to see in their team. This is why leaders have such an important role in motivating their team and it is so important they recognise these times of anxiety, stress and fear and act on it.

It is very interesting to compare and contrast the inspiration and positivity of the English womens football team who won the European Championship to the fear and anxiety of the English players.

Performance Management And Team Performance

We also need to recognise the implications of fear on the team on performance management. It would suggest whilst performance management may have a possible positive impact on the individual. The climate of fear that it creates on a team may have a negative impact on the team as a whole.

Niches Fears and Team Performance

One of the biggest reasons people feel afraid and the teams underperform is that they are being asked to perform outside of their established niche or comfort zone. A good leader needs to recognise you can’t always push the edges of performance and sometimes people need a change of track so that they feel safe and comfortable once more. So if people are afraid think about what things you can associate with comfort. Learn more about niches, fears and comfort zones in this blog article.

When Fear Comes Teams Really Do Need a Hero

Through recognising and responding to our threats and leading with courage we can be the hero recognising and stopping the killer. Create a whole new opportunity for good things to happen.

Conclusion

Understanding and addressing the hidden killer of fear can make the difference between a team that underperforms and one that excels. Through effective leadership and emotional awareness, teams can overcome fear and achieve their full potential.