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I was taught to teach many years ago by a master teacher. One of the important lessons she imparted to our enthusiastic young group of soon-to-be teachers was the idea of Level of Concern. I've found throughout my life that this concept has a broader application than the classroom.
The way that my master teacher explained the concept of Level of Concern was that in order for children to learn they must be willing and able to put forth the metal effort. Physical things may also interfere with their ability to do that such as hunger, fatigue, pain, sickness, etc. But Level of Concern is a mental state.
In order to for a child to learn their mental state must be at the appropriate Level of Concern. This means that they are motivated to learn and still confident about their ability to do so. They must neither be lethargic in their thinking, daydreaming, chit-chatting with their friends, or passing notes, nor too apprehensive in their thinking and thereby paralyzed by the challenge of the task, scared stiff if you will.
Leaders in organizations often pay little attention to Level of Concern in their management style. Some leaders are laissez faire allowing an extremely relaxed atmosphere where there are no discernable demands. People are often less productive in that kind of atmosphere as their minds - like a child in class - are free to wander without an appropriate level of stress driving them to perform. Leaders who do not create a Level of Concern in which employees are motivated to achieve and yet confident in their abilities, and of the support of the organization, will likely have employees who appear to be lazy. Goals will be set and not met, benchmarks will be outlined and rarely achieved, employee morale will be low and turnover will be high.
Other leaders live at the opposite end of the Level of Concern scale understand that employees need to be motivated to perform. But if the Level of Concern is raised too high then the employees will work in a state of fear. They will be afraid to make mistakes and therefore avoid taking risks. Some leaders raise the level of concern with storming at employees. They yell and curse and abuse people. I've always found this to be self-serving, an outlet to relieve their own fears resulting from a high Level of Concern either internally created or externally created that drives them to mistreat others. A leader who raises the level of concern too high will squash creativity and drive away quality employees who simply refuse to accept mistreatment. They are often left with green or untalented employees who lack the credentials to leave the toxic environment or they end up with employees whose spirits are crushed and who stay for the occasional pat on the back.
Leaders have the responsibility to create the best environment for their organization to thrive. This means they need to draw the best out of each person in their team. The organization is not well served when the Level of Concern is too low causing employees to be unmotivated and likewise the organization is cheated of the best people and the best ideas when the Level of Concern is raised too high.
Finding a balance is difficult for a leader who is new to an organization. A leader with some tenure may have been in a position to employ many of the people working for them and thereby had had the ability to control the personality types he/she works with. People can vary widely in their sensitivity to a leader's efforts to raise the overall Level of Concern so a new leader must become aware of the people they are working with and what is most effective in maintaining a level of concern that is appropriate. Some people need a little extra push to keep their level of concern high while others need a little private chat to calm them down and keep their level of concern from skyrocketing them into a state of frozen apprehension.
Positional prerogative enables leaders to abuse their position. It is never a good thing for the organization regardless of the bottom line. A company with a good bottom line and a group of employees afraid to take risks will never know how much better things could have been with a motivated, empowered workforce. The only ideas on the table in these instances will be the leader's and the only motivation will be to save one's skin at all costs.
The leader's job like a teacher is to create an environment in which achievement (i.e., learning in a classroom) becomes the intrinsic motivator. The key is to engender an internal motivation within each employee so that they naturally raise their own level of concern. The effective leader establishes an environment in which each employee buys in to the idea that the success of the whole equals the success of the individual. Individual goals are clearly linked to organizational goals and because the Level of Concern is maintained at a motivational level the employees are driven to achieve, to risk, to share and in this environment they can achieve their potential.
Just a simple curmudgeon observing life in the USA. Cranky posts to his blog regularly at http://crankyblog.com.
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