Dr. Deming’s & Driving Out Fear

The number one cause of fear in this day and age is the pace of change. There are more products released in any given month today than there were in an entire year – fifteen years ago. Today’s Americans are always on the run: we can’t stop checking our BlackBerrys or iPhones. To remain competitive and innovative, companies need to sell to a larger audience and publicize their brand more so they don’t fall through the cracks. Trying to appeal to more consumers has led to globalization.

 

So the pace of change engenders fear. But isn’t fear something that all companies, American workers, and professionals have to deal with to be successful and rise to the top? Not necessarily. Since fear is a learned behavior, you can unlearn it.

 

 

Using the Bright Side model, it is possible unlearn the fears, distractions, and barriers that we encounter on a day-to-day basis (on a personal, team, or organizational level) – release them, replace them with positive habits, and then build upon those new habits for accelerated business results.

 

Dr. W. Edwards Deming, the Father of Quality, was an early proponent of Bright Side and its Founder, Chairman and CEO, Donna Rae Smith. Deming, a renowned statistician perhaps best known for his work in Japan during the 1950’s, layed out his business philosophy in his 14 Points – one of which, is “drive out fear so that everyone may work more effectively for the company.” This maxim is a key compenent of Bright Side’s work today.

 

Deming saw and understood the crippling effects of fear on an organization’s productivity and well-being. He understood that fear causes employees’ work to suffer. Bright Side’s system is a method to release that fear so that organizations can more effectively reach their bottom lines.

 

For example, Bright Side worked with Procter & Gamble, more specifically the Global Oral Care, during its acquisition of Gillette in 2005. P&G had just acquired Gillette and had vowed to take the best of both organizations, bundle it all together, and then sell it for a stronger P&G. There was a lot of fear and mistrust swirling from both organizations about the acquisition. Bright Side executives knew that in order to make this merger successful, they needed to drive that fear out so that the P&G investment could be leveraged – from a personal, team and organizational standpoint.

Using the Bright Side model and working with leaders from both teams, Bright Side was able to foster one of the most successful mergers P&G had ever seen – all measured by extraordinary and robust business results and outcomes.

Take a look:

Procter & Gamble Global Oral Care Team Results
The post-integrated teams and leadership exceeded work objectives and delivered ahead of schedule!

•Doubled the size of the business
•Delivered >100% of committed cost savings
•Improved service levels
•A 98% retention of associates who relocated from Gillette
•A 50% improvement on the cultural assessment tracking leadership behaviors of risk-taking, transparency, inclusion

 

Procter & Gamble Global Oral Care Team Results
•#1 in key business metrics for high growth categories in P&G
•Ranked first in Engineering in three of the four critical drivers for retention
•Launched unprecedented number of initiatives with excellence, on time
•On track to deliver personal productivity improvement of a minimum of 1.0 hour per day

So is it possible to drive out fear in an organization for accelerated business results? Most definitely, and the P&G/ Gillette merger is just one example of how driving out that fear in an organization, however invisible it is, can lead to accelerated business outcomes.

Is this possible for you and your organization? Why or why not?

 

 

 

 

Bright Side Fear Surveys

Posted by Shannon Valentine

Since January 2009, Bright Side executives have been interviewing and talking to leaders in many sectors of business about the impact of fear on productivity within their organizations. Since the economic crises of September 2009, fear has escalated and Americans have felt the squeeze. Bright Side wanted to informally quantify some of that fear.
 

So far, Bright Side executives have spoken to experts and leaders in the manufacturing, technology, and banking/ investment industries. This confidential survery is informal and includes questions like “are you aware of fear being present in your organzation?” and “can you imagine your organization without fear?”

Across all sectors of business and industries, all high-level executives interviewed replied “yes” when asked about fear being present in the organization. All interviewees responded that there is more fear present in the organization today than there was one year ago. Many respondants also replied that some employees seem paralyzed with fear and unwilling to initiate anything new or risky.

What does this mean for business that want to operate at a high level while still maintaining an engaged work force? Does fear need to cripple companies and organizations like this? The answer is NO.

The Bright Side model teaches organizations to face fears – on a personal, team and organizational level – release them, replace those fears, distractions, and barriers with engaging, positive and open habits, and then building on all that for a stronger organization.