Does Using Fear To Motivate Actually Work?

culled from:articlecity.com

Are your executives productive because they’re afraid of you?

A new study by CEO.com and Domo shows that CEOs may be off base when it comes to
motivating
and engaging their executive team. You may think that you are using praise, affirmation and positive reinforcement to motivate your executives, but they are getting a totally different message.

While only 10 percent of CEOs claim to use fear as a motivation tactic, executives ranked it as the #1 motivation tool of their CEOs, the study says. That’s a sobering number for leaders to think about.

It can be tempting to adopt a dictatorial, command and control management strategy to get things done. You want your executive team to finish tasks quickly and intimidation is the easiest way to achieve those results.

Fear is not a substitute for respect, however. Unless your executives trust that their CEO is acting in the company’s best interests, they are more likely to jump ship down the road.