5 Things You Gain from Overcoming Fear and Anxiety

Fear, at its very premise, is about facing the unknown. The idea of taking on something unfamiliar is so uncomfortable that some people retreat into anxiety. That is why sometimes as leaders, we need to step in.

By taking the initiative and overcoming their fears and anxieties with them, you are allowing your team to realise their full potential. What you gain from overcoming fear and anxiety will become evident to you when you see just how much it affects individual and team performances. Not only will it help improve your employee’s performance, it will also help advance the organisation as a whole.

The Benefits of Overcoming Fear and Anxiety

Overcoming fear and anxiety with your team is beneficial to the organisation in all sorts of ways. Here are 5 examples of what you will gain from investing in your people in this way.

Improved Morale

The first thing that will be most affected by anxiety is your employee’s morale. Fear and anxiety are detrimental when trying to do your work and collaborate with others. So, instead of making several attempts to boost morale with incentives and pep talks while your employee is feeling overwhelmed by fear and anxiety, help them to eliminate the source of their low morale. By doing so, you will see that their morale will naturally improve as they overcome these roadblocks with you. Remember: prevention is better than cure.

Open Communication

We know that communication is vital in creating interpersonal relationships that are needed for the organisation to function effectively. However, fear and anxiety could be the reason why your employees may find it difficult to open themselves to you and to their co-workers. It could also be preventing them from contributing greatly to the team, which could then lead to a feeling of uselessness. Helping them to overcome their fear and anxiety will allow them to communicate more openly, express themselves and their ideas fully, and ultimately become a more valuable asset to the organisation.

Motivated Employees

As stated before, fear is not an effective motivator. Operating out of fear will never be as effective as operating out of the sheer desire to do well. Without fear and anxiety gnawing away at their self-worth, your employees will be able to recognise their own value and that they can do what they set out to do for themselves and for the organisation; therefore, creating a new motivation to drive them forward.

Better Teamwork

All the aforementioned benefits can lead into an overall improvement in teamwork. A team with high morale will be a lot more willing to lend each other a hand than a team with low morale. Open communication between team members will lessen or even eliminate confusion. Each member will have their own say in the matter at hand and are able to express themselves clearly. A team made up of motivated individuals will encourage each other to do their absolute best; creating an output that not only gets the job done but exceed expectations.

An Environment of Trust

To truly overcome fear, sometimes we need to take a leap of faith. That means trusting that whatever is at the other end is going to be much better than the current reality. By cultivating an environment of trust, your team will be more willing to face challenges that they would not have even thought to face before because of their previous fears and anxieties. Because they have a firm trust in themselves and in their team, they can accomplish so much more without a second thought or doubts.

Conclusion

As leaders, you must know how to recognise potential. Likewise, you must also know how to realise that potential and turn it into results. Overcoming fear and anxiety is just one of the many steps that you will need to take as a leader to create a truly innovative and continuously developing organisation with employees that dare to challenge the unknown.

As Jack Canfield, co-author of the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series, once said:

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”

So, how has overcoming fear and anxiety affected you and your employees? What are some of the benefits that you have seen in your organisation?

We Are Here to Help

At People Builders, we have a team of expert trainers and coaches who can help you in building trust with your team. Contact us today for a quick chat to see how we can partner with you to train and coach you and your team.

If you are interested in becoming certified to be a trainer and coach in Social and Emotional Intelligence, Applied Neuroscience, or Extended DISC, go to our People Builders Institute website.