No other emotion has the same stopping power as fear. Everyone, across all countries and cultures, has at one time felt this powerful emotion. When introduced into the workplace, nothing else saps the efficiency from you or your workers faster than fear.

What is the key to running an unstoppable business? "The source of innovation is a place of fearlessness where we are not trying to force things to happen," says Gayle Gregory, motivational coach, leadership consultant, and co-author of the book "The Grand Experiment: An Expedition of Self-Discovery." Gregory feels that the key to an unstoppable business is identifying and eliminating the fears present in the minds of its employees.

Gregory has identified seven fundamental fears found in the human psyche that are reflected in everything, from personal lives to careers. "The seven fears are universal," Gregory observes. Everyone in the workplace, from those at the top to those at the bottom can find some aspect of all seven fears within them. These fears are not always something people are aware of yet they have a profound effect upon the creativity, interactivity, and efficiency of a business workplace.

Gregory believes that the world is not a scary place, but rather, an individual's own perspective determines their fear. In fact, it is rare for two different people to feel the exact same about any given situation. Gregory challenges people to be aware of the choices they make when they're deciding how to react. To dismantle the fear of the world, be proactive by making a conscious decision to react positively to a challenge rather than in a negative manner. "The world just is," advises Gregory, "You give it meaning."

To determine the unstoppability factor of your workplace, you must first identify the fears that are present within it. When fear is present, employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, and lose passion for the work they do. Without this passion, your employees' creativity and power of innovation moves elsewhere, away from the workplace, decreasing the force your business achieves. "Go out into the workplace and find out what prevents people from doing their work," Gregory says, "Why are they standing around vending machines having conversations? What are those conversations about? Its all fear based."

The next step to making your company unstoppable is to take the power out of each fear. At first the process is difficult and uncomfortable because it requires open discussion and admission of individual fears. Take the initiative and lay out each of the fears to be discussed. This way you can manage the discomfort associated with sharing personal fear and turn it into a proactive game that can be won. "The only thing that holds fear in place is our unwillingness to look at it," Gregory shares, "As soon as you place your fear out on the table, it begins to dissolve and lose it's power."

Gayle held a lucrative position in a Fortune 500 company before she left to explore the human condition by sailing to Mexico. While sailing the Sea of Cortez, Gregory realized through her introspection and her own spirituality, that it was the same fundamental fears of the human psyche she was learning about that had held her back in the business world. Understanding how costly fear can be in a work environment, Gayle now enjoys motivating and energizing the business world by managing workplace fears, which she sees keeping all companies from reaching their fullest potentials.

To gain a competitive edge, your business needs to be perceived as bold and innovative. Fear prevents companies and their employees from reaching their full potential. In an enterprise where fear is present, internal conflict often diminishes a workplace or department's ability to function smoothly as one contiguous unit.

Obviously a business that is fighting itself cannot also effectively fight its competition as well. "We're so busy competing with each other that we forget to compete with competitors in the marketplace," warns Gregory. Fears such as thinking that there is not enough resources, time, favor, and other commodities for all tend to breed individualistic attitudes rather than team spirit. To stop this, encourage an attitude of cooperation among your employees and share rewards among many rather than granting one first prize. Employees that are afraid to share their ideas or work together cripple the overall productivity of the workplace with their fears.

Ultimately, the unstoppability of your business lies with your decision to expose fears rather than let them rest. A fear kept in the dark, no matter how small, decreases your company's performance. Even if your business achieves its highest visions for the future, you are settling for far less than your maximum potential when you do not dismantle the fears within the organization and individuals. The resulting environment expands exponentially the vision of what you and your enterprise can do. "When you take the fear away, the automatic outcome is you energize your performance," says Gregory.

About the Author

'Dr. Proactive' Randy Gilbert enjoys producing "Inside Business Success," hosted by Jan Schleicher. Get Gayle Gregory's interview for free by visiting: Gayle Gregory Learn how to Build Team Morale and Stop Business Fear

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