I once again find myself writing a blog post based on one of
the inspirational quotes from the coach’s motivational reference document that
was shared with me coupled with a recent work experience. I am often intrigued by what motivates
people and why. The answer is
never very easy because each person is different, and we all react to
situations in our lives differently.
However, I think one of the ways you learn the most about people is how
they react when they are in a situation where they have to face fear.
Fear can either be a tremendous motivator or a tremendous
“de-motivator” depending on the situation and who you are. Also, there is a time factor
involved. In many cases, the
initial fear reaction generates different behavior than later when the initial
reaction has faded. I must admit
that in many situations for me personally, the initial reaction is much
different than after I’ve had time to process and figure out what needs to
happen next. I think the biggest
difference between individuals is how quickly the initial fear reaction fades,
or even if it does, and when the person is ready to move to the next step.
If you read my last blog post about the Navy Seals, I think
you would agree that these are individuals that are trained to overcome the
ultimate fear, that being the fear of death, in order to do their job. In their situation, fear that causes
even the smallest delay in reaction can cause the ultimate sacrifice for
individuals or the entire team.
That’s why you’ll often hear them referring to the importance of their
training. They want to be so well
trained that they can react instantly to any situation without the risk of fear
or any other emotion getting in the way of doing their job. In many ways, they use
confidence in their ability to do their job to offset whatever fear they might
feel in a given situation. While
I’m not sure I could ever conquer my fears as well as those in the Navy Seals,
the situations in which I’ve had to face fear have also not been nearly as
intense as the situations they have faced.
Throughout my career, I have faced many fearful
situations. As I reflect, I also
realize that much like the Navy Seals, I have had to use the confidence in my
abilities and those of my teammates to offset those fears.
There is a delicate balance involved because you can sometimes be
overconfident in your abilities and the abilities of your teammates, which can lead you to situations where you get
in over your head because you thought you could conquer anything thrown your
way. It reminds me of a phrase
I’ve often heard in athletics:
Confident, not cocky. It’s
a fine line, that’s for sure.
If you’ve read past blog posts, you may remember my
mentioning my time at Sequent. I
believe one of the most fearful situations I faced at Sequent was when I was
called into the CEO’s office and told I was going to Germany the next day as part of a team for a
critical customer benchmark, he couldn’t tell me when I was coming home, and I
had to win the benchmark. At the
time, I was 25 years old with a wife and a very young son. I was definitely afraid, and felt a bit
alone in the whole situation as I didn't know a lot about the team I would be part of.
However, saying no to the opportunity was not an option. Also, after the initial fear reaction
subsided and I had time to think, I realized that I was fully capable of doing
what was asked of me. That doesn’t
mean that I didn’t have twinges of fear.
I certainly did. However, I
reached a point where I just had to trust my training and instincts and those of my teammates in order to
accomplish the task at hand. At
the end of the situation, we did win the benchmark, and won the business. Had I not overcome my fear and trusted my teammates, I’m not
sure that would have been the case.
When I started DecisionPoint, there were a lot of
fears. I was leaving a good job
with a great company in Sequent, and I was about to do something that is more
known for failures than for successes.
It would have been easy to give in to my initial fears and decided not
to start DecisionPoint. However, I
also had to take time and process that fear and channel it, realizing that I was
confident in my abilities and the people I would be working with to do the job, and that if it didn’t work out, I was
confident in my abilities to take my career in a new direction. I think that’s the hardest part. You have to try to put aside the
thoughts of doubt about whether you can recover if something doesn’t go the way
you planned it to go. You ask
yourself if you can conquer the fear of failure knowing you can change
directions if you need to.
Conquering fear also extends to your teammates. It’s not always about your individual
abilities, but rather the collective abilities of your teammates that can
determine fear and the reaction to it.
I think one of the things that got me through situations at both Sequent
and DecisionPoint also had to do with my confidence in the abilities of my
teammates in addition to my own.
Like the Navy Seals, the strength of the team is greater than the
strength of the individuals on the team.
Good teams become great when the members are confident that their
collective skills can get them through any situation or adversity.
More recently, I have been asked to take on some difficult
tasks at work. Some of these
things have been long standing problems or situations due to the complexity
involved. I also often hear others
say things like it can’t be fixed, that others have unsuccessfully tried to fix
it, and that it’s just too hard to fix.
I have never been one to accept that stance. Everything is fixable with enough time, patience, energy,
and confidence in myself and my teammates. I know that if I can put my fears aside and step forward, my
teammates will step forward with me. Very often, individuals are willing to
step forward and put their own fears aside, but they are only willing to do so
if someone will step forward with them.
For the people I work with, I don’t look for them to be the first to put
their fear aside and step forward.
All I ask is that if I’m willing to do it, I want them to do it with
me. More importantly, the
teammates that aren’t willing to step forward with me are telling me something
about them. They may never step
forward, which is sad for them.
There’s not much I can do about that, and I have to admit it’s very
frustrating to me.
Naturally, there is fear that goes with these
situations. The situations have existed for
a long period of time for any number of reasons, and have been looked at by
many different individuals prior to me or other members of the team.
It would be easy for me to give in to fear using the excuse that others
have looked at it, so it must be too difficult for me to accomplish. That could be caused by the initial fear
reaction. However, I also have to
have some confidence in my abilities, my teammate’s abilities, and know that
even though others have looked at the situation, they may not have had the same
experiences or background as I or any of my teammates have had.
I remember a funny movie I like to watch called “The
Replacements” that also has some important lessons in it. It’s the story of a
bunch of former athletes that come together on a football team as replacement
players when the regular players go on strike. At one point in the movie, the quarterback and coach make an
important observation. The
quarterback talks about fear of quicksand in the context of playing the
game. How there are times that
you’re trying your very hardest, but no matter what you do, things aren’t going
your way. Much like being in
quicksand. No matter what you do,
the situation gets worse. The
coach follows that by acknowledging what the quarterback is talking about in
the context of fear. He then makes
the statement that now that the fear is shared amongst the teammates, they can
work to conquer the fear together.
With that, I’ll finish off this blog entry. The key point is that we all face
fear. However, what defines us is
how we react to that fear and what we do about it. The easy thing to do is run away. In order to get better, though, what you really need to do
is face your fear and conquer it.
Also, realize that you aren’t alone in your fear. Others have fear also. However, once your fear is shared,
there is a collective confidence that you can conquer your fear together. Like the last blog entry, I’ll finish
this off with a question.
Conquering fear involves someone being the first to step forward,
acknowledging the fear, and be determined to conquer it. Others that matter will follow that
lead. The question is whether you
are willing to be the first one to step forward. Will you stand up and be counted when it matters the most?
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