Most leaders reach for fear when a team falls behind, and then call it urgency. Bart Bailey has led people where a mistake doesn't just cost a deadline. It costs somebody's safety, on a production line, a plate floor, or a crew restoring power after a storm. His read is that fear isn't a lever. It's data. When a team reports zero near misses, that isn't a clean record. It means fear is present, and people have stopped speaking up.

This conversation pulls apart three pairs that leaders blur. Urgency is healthy when it means more attention to the process, and dangerous when it means shortcuts, because the error rate goes up under pressure even in work you could do in your sleep. Teamwork is having somebody's back; collaboration is combining two ideas without diminishing either one. Discomfort is fine; harm is not. And Bart's question for any leader whose team is behind right now: what is your next step?

Go deeper:

Near misses and safety culture: National Safety Council, "Near Miss and Hazard Reporting," Position/Policy Statement #131 (2016) https://nsc.org/getattachment/89915b18-ca6e-430d-8eb6-583593cbc0ec/W-Near-Miss-Hazard-Reporting-131

Time pressure and the three performance modes: U.S. Department of Energy, Human Performance Improvement Handbook, Vol. 1 (DOE-HDBK-1028-2009) https://www.energy.gov/documents/doe-hdbk-1028-2009volume1pdf

Speaking up: Amy C. Edmondson and Michaela J. Kerrissey, "What People Get Wrong About Psychological Safety," Harvard Business Review, May–June 2025 https://hbr.org/2025/05/what-people-get-wrong-about-psychological-safety

The book Bart cites: Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother's Hands (Central Recovery Press, 2017) https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781942094470

Bart Bailey (he/him): Owner, Courage to Care LLC · Author, It's in Our Bones

Talk about your team: https://thelaggingteam.com/start?episode=0017-fear-is-data&utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=fear-is-data