72% of civil servants feel threatened by 'menacing' bosses

A survey suggests that public sector leaders need to change their modus operandi to reduce feelings of threat
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civil servants in Whitehall
Reported anxieties about bosses 'may be the tip of the iceberg'. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

In a recent survey we conducted, three quarters of public sector workers said they feel threatened at work – more than any other sector in the UK.

Nationwide, almost half of people feel their boss threatens them. Both are damning indictments on the quality of our leaders. And this is probably only the tip of the iceberg.

It would be easy to say civil service leaders need to get a grip and focus on the problems of the country. But neuroscience, the science of how the brain works, points to this not being a terribly sensible response. Why? Because the science suggests that is going to make matters worse, not better, and will also contribute to lower productivity, absenteeism, disengagement and a lack of creativity. With the civil service undergoing the most tumultuous metamorphosis it has seen, arguably, in its history, that is the last thing it needs.

The other worrying thing is these stats are likely to be an understatement of what is really going on.

What we are recording is the conscious sense of threat experienced by employees, the feelings they can put a name to. There is likely to be a much higher level of threat that is unconscious but which has a real impact, maybe an even greater impact.

The brain is hard-wired to move away from threat and towards reward. This is not threat in the sense of someone about to punch you, or a reward like a bonus. Threat and reward can be thought of as "avoid and approach", a sense of discomfort or comfort, or avoiding a situation or a person.

This is happening at an unconscious level, we react without putting a label on why we have acted the way we have. Imagine this scenario: there is a woman in your cross-functional project team that you know you should build a relationship with. She is very influential and has a lot of insight into the politics of the organisation. It makes sense for your career, and the project, to understand more about what is going on and to have her as a supporter. But you find that you just do not get around to making a lunch date or chatting to her after the project meeting. She makes you feel uncomfortable, and this feeling overrides the logic that you should know her better. This is an unconscious threat reaction at play.

Once leaders understand this they are no longer at the mercy of the unconscious. Leaders can then employ the prefrontal cortex. This is the rational, goal-setting system in the brain that allows them to override the avoid response, have coffee with the woman and realise that actually she is only off-putting because she is shy; she is really quite nice and very useful to you.

This is what the statistics suggest more public sector leaders need to be doing with their teams.

They need to change their leadership modus operandi so it puts a greater emphasis on reducing the feelings of threat their employees feel from them. They need to adopt a leadership style that encourages feelings of reward – otherwise, we could see a real crisis in employment relationships in the civil service.

Jan Hills is partner at Head Heart + Brain, a leadership development consultancy.

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