“What do you think is the most important job of a leader?” I asked Chris Liu.

Chris was director of the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) for the State of Washington. We were in a deep discussion preparing for two DES teams to present their improvement stories at the state’s annual Lean Conference.  As the Director of Continuous Improvement, I guided those preparations.

Our agency was part of a massive effort to introduce and embed a more human-centered way of working that trusts employees to make things better for customers every day. Our teams had done inspiring work and had fantastic stories to tell.

Chris and I were going back and forth trying to nail down his introduction, which brought me to the question, "So Chris, what do you think is the most important job of a leader?"

He didn’t hesitate in his reply, and I’ll never forget his answer:

"To eliminate fear from the workplace."

"That's it," I smiled, delighted and a little stunned at how succinctly he crystalized the culture we were working to build. It was beautiful really.

"That says it perfectly! That’s exactly what we've been trying to do these last few years!”

When we succeeded at decreasing fear, our teams were eager and comfortable to engage and improve their work. The times we failed at this and led with fear, improvement efforts fell apart and could even do damage.

Chris was on a quest to fulfill this leadership imperative to decrease fear and to show others how as well. 

We named the workshop session, "Eliminate Fear."

But this one conversation with Chris raised new questions for me. As I pondered in the coming days, it became clear that eliminating fear is only half the story. I tried to put my finger on exactly what the other quality is that replaces fear.

What was it that helped people take risks to open up, point out problems, share ideas, and test solutions?

“What is it,” I mused, “that expands to take fear’s place and create the safety everyone needs?” 

Through many conversations and reflection, I came to see that the quality that replaces fear is…

Love. 

That's right, love. 

Many psychologists sort human experiences into two primary categories, fear and love. All other emotions cascade from these two. Understanding this helps us make more sense of and respond more effectively to any of the other emotions we either experience ourselves or encounter in others. An angry or violent child's emotions can be sourced back to fear. The limbic root of belonging, trust, appreciation, or respect? Love. 

At the Lean conference, we opened the workshop showcasing our teams’ improvements with Chris declaring that leaders must aim to eliminate fear if they want to see similar results. And when I was closing out the introduction and preparing to transition to the teams, I off-handedly mentioned when we decrease fear the thing that takes its place is love.  

Stunned silence.

You could have heard a pin drop in that room of 400 people. Nervous laughter. Shuffling. Had I really just said the "L word" in a government-sponsored Lean conference?

I reminded the audience that love is human. We love our work. We love our customers. We love the people we work with. When we feel loved, we know we belong and that our contributions matter. We feel safe to step out and take risks to improve. When we feel loved at work, we love our customers and respond to their needs with improvements. When we feel loved, we can give and do and be our very best.

And then... the audience broke into spontaneous applause!

Later, people shared their support while others sent me emails of thanks. People stopped me weeks later in state agencies to discuss this idea of love at work. I was on to something important.

Since then, I've sought to understand this outpouring of love for the idea of love at work. I studied existing research on fear and love, threat and safety, and related topics like kindness, compassion, inclusion, and belonging.

And on February 14, 2017, (yes really on that day), I launched a qualitative research project that continues to this day. As a social scientist, I wanted to learn from people’s stories about the impacts of fear and of love at work. Those 100+ formal interviews, along with thousands of stories shared informally in workshops, and interviews with leaders sharing their loving leadership practices and impacts have made it crystal clear.

Fear is damaging and costly to people, teams, organizations, and ultimately those they serve. In contrast, loving experiences in the workplace are beneficial to people and teams, and to results too.

Since that time this loving work has grown, moving from DES to the Governor’s Office, from Gatherings of 20 to Gatherings of 80-100 and multiple cities, from a local effort to this global consultancy, A Human Workplace, keynote talks to groups around the world advocating for love, and a non-profit, the Center for a Loving Workplace. The movement and conversations have grown to reach thousands of people globally each week via email. The community of Loving Leaders has grown.

And now there’s you too. Welcome.

I love that you are here. 

~ Renée Smith