Yelling at employees might get things moving, but it’s a short-term solution that always leads to long-term problems. This post explores some of the hidden costs of leadership based on fear or intimidation and offers suggestions for strategies you can use to spur people to action without yelling at them.
If you’re yelling you’re the one who’s lost control of the conversation.
—Taylor Swift
I’m currently coaching someone who firmly believes that yelling is an essential part of his leadership role. It’s not a behavior that slips out occasionally when he loses his temper or is having an off day. Rather, it’s something he does intentionally—and often—because he believes that raising his voice conveys urgency and communicates that something is important.
When he unloads on someone, things do happen. Deadlines tighten up, e-mail gets answered faster, and details get extra scrutiny. In his mind, these improvements indicate that his strategy works. “If I don’t light a fire,” he told me, “nothing moves.”
He doesn’t realize that his yelling motivates action not because he has inspired his employees but because they are afraid of him. That fear dominates all workplace interactions: no one challenges him in meetings (which means creativity is stifled), no one wants to tell him bad news (which means that by the time the bad news inevitably comes out, it’s too late to do anything to change it), and no one takes any risks without triple-checking everything and running it by the boss multiple times first (which means processes slow down and opportunities for innovation are missed). He thinks he’s driving performance, but what he’s actually driving is obedience.
(Fortunately, “once a yeller, always a yeller” does not apply here. I’m helping him to change his perspective and practices so he can understand and reap the benefits of a leadership approach that isn’t based on raising his voice at his employees.)
Whether you find yourself yelling more often than you’d like or just want to avoid developing this habit in the first place, you need to understand why leaders yell, why that’s a bad thing to do, and other strategies that are far more effective at motivating your employees and driving results.
Why Yelling Feels Like Strong Leadership
Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge.
—Leonardo da Vinci
Here’s the thing: yelling often does yield immediate results. It conveys a strong sense of urgency and demands attention, which in turn usually leads to an immediate change in behavior. If you’ve ever raised your voice at a gathering and watched everyone jump into action in response, yelling might seem effective on the surface.
It’s easy to see why leaders might turn to yelling in order to get stuff done.
However, those immediate results hide some pretty big negatives.
The Hidden Costs of Fear-Based Leadership
Yelling in the workplace leads to a fear-based company culture. When people are driven by fear, negativity dominates which doesn’t leave much room at all for the types of behaviors and outcomes that you, as a leader, should aim to promote in your employees.
The truth gets obscured
When people fear how others will react to bad news, they try to hide (or delay) it as much as possible. Maybe they filter this information to hide the worst parts, or sugarcoat it to try to convince everyone that things aren’t so bad after all. They might try to resolve problems quietly rather than make them public or escalate them to higher levels of leadership.
None of these “fixes” actually addresses the cause of the bad news, though. They merely amount to handwaving the problems away temporarily. And when those issues inevitably pop up again, they’ve usually grown into bigger problems.
Decision making slows down
Yelling might get things moving, but it doesn’t get things moving faster. Rather than speed things up, it actually slows them down. Yelling makes people so fearful that they end up seeking leadership’s approval for everything (including stuff they should be able to handle on their own confidently) and avoiding anything that seems risky. When everyone wants to “just run this next thing by the boss first,” work moves at a snail’s pace, because all those checkins and sign-offs take time—both yours and your employees’. Rather than own their work, employees become dependent on your approval and your good mood.
Innovation disappears
In a hostile environment that penalizes questions and mistakes, everyone is afraid to experiment. Risks that might lead to success are avoided because people don’t want to take the chance that those same risks might lead to failure. Instead of bold thinking, you get safe thinking which does not lead to the kind of innovation that wins markets
The wrong behavior is encouraged
Great leaders surround themselves with the best possible people they can find. They want people who are not only skilled but also independent thinkers. But when the boss’s yelling makes fear the dominant vibe in the workplace, that squashes employees’ confidence in themselves. They become so afraid of messing up and getting on the boss’s bad side that they don’t speak up or raise challenges even when they know that something is a bad idea; instead, they avoid taking risks and instead play it safe. They also don’t admit their mistakes, which means they miss out on valuable learning opportunities.
Over time, you’re left with a team that does exactly what it’s told and nothing more. They tiptoe around the boss’s moods and do everything they can to avoid rocking the boat.
High performers leave
Your most capable employees want growth opportunities, autonomy, and respect. Because they are top performers, they know that if they can’t find those things at your organization, another one (maybe even your competitor!) will welcome them with open arms. When they see that their ability to do their jobs is negatively affected by a leader’s volatility, you can be sure they won’t stick around for long.
And the employees who stay under such circumstances? They’re often the ones who either aren’t top performers (and therefore can’t escape to lucrative positions elsewhere) or are comfortable with being unassertive and complacent (and therefore aren’t driving much innovation).
What’s the Difference between Intensity and Instability?
If you let things devolve into a shouting match, then it’s really difficult to have a discussion, a serious discussion.
—Brianna Keilar
Look, I’m not saying that leaders must be lackluster and always calm. It’s okay to have a big personality and to be enthusiastic (even bousterous) in your interactions with your employees.
An intense style is okay as long as you communicate clear standards (and adhere to them yourself), provide employees with direct and specific feedback, and treat people respectfully and fairly. But as soon as you react unpredictably, engage in public blowups and shouting matches, and allow your mood to drive your leadership—well, then you’ve crossed from intensity over to instability.
How to Lead with Authority without Raising Your Voice
Anybody who has something sensible or worthwhile to say should be able to say it calmly and soberly, relying on the words themselves to convey [their] meaning, without resorting to yelling.
—Richard Dawkins
Now that you understand why yelling does not work as a leadership tool, you may be asking yourself, “So what should I do instead?”
The answer? You need to find ways to be demanding without being destructive.
Lower your voice
When you want to be sure your message is getting across, use a trick that teachers (especially those who work with rambunctious, noisy kids) have kept up their sleeves for years: instead of yelling to be heard, speak softly. It seems counterintuitive, but it works. When you want a roomful of people to focus on what you’re saying rather than on the many simultaneous conversations taking place, simply drop your voice to conversational volume. You’ll be amazed by how quickly everyone else stops talking and starts paying attention to you—no yelling required.
Replace reaction with process
If you find yourself yelling because the same issue keeps coming up, that points to a problem not with your people but with your systems. Rather than continue to yell at people for doing things wrong, fix your systems by clarifying standards and expectations and following up on accountability. Only after ensuring a solid system is in place, can you then judge if perhaps the employee is not a good fit for the role.
Separate the behavior from the individual
Focusing on the employee can make things feel personal, and the heightened emotions that can result might lead you to start yelling. Don’t say, “What is wrong with you?” Instead, zero in on the behavior: “This is a serious problem that requires a change in how things are done.”
Own it when you make a mistake
If you do blow up at an employee, fully acknowledge your error and make no excuses for it. (Remember, weak leaders try to justify their bad behavior, but strong leaders apologize and take responsibility when they mess up.) Then fix the damage—and do whatever you can to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Final Thoughts
You can’t get your head around something if you’re yelling.
—Henry Rollins
Yelling might get people’s attention and spur immediate action. But it won’t inspire and engage people over the long haul—and it might even drive them away! As soon as you rely on fear to get things done, you’ve lost whatever genuine influence you had.
The best leaders aren’t the ones who are the loudest but the ones who are the best communicators, support their people, and hold their employees (and themselves) accountable. When you communicate clearly and consistently about standards and expectations, then give your people the tools (including your trust in them) they need to do their jobs, you’ll never need to use intimidation to get great results.
