Everyone gets lost from time to time. A wrong turn is taken. You think you know where you are going and suddenly the houses and roads become strange. The natural reaction is to feel annoyed or uncomfortable. Maybe you’ll be late for an appointment. Perhaps you will have to stop for directions. Not knowing where you are isn’t the end of the world. It’s happened before and you’ve always found your way again.

Earlier this year, Modern Survey conducted a study on employee engagement for the U.S. workforce. Full time workers across the country were asked a series of questions to determine their engagement levels and what drives their engagement. Normally, the drivers are things like recognition, personal accomplishment and career development. Surprisingly, the top driver six months ago turned out to be “belief in the future of the company.” When the study was conducted again, the top driver turned out to be “belief in the future of the company” once again.

This runs contrary to conventional wisdom. Driving engagement is supposed to be the manager’s responsibility, but providing a roadmap to believe in the future of the company lands on the desks of the senior leadership team. The reason for the shift has to do with the level of confidence and security people feel in their lives. Consumer confidence is abysmally low. CEO confidence is awful. Our financial futures seem threatened by European economies we don’t quite understand.

Yes, we want to be recognized, grow and develop, and do something meaningful at work, but these things are going to have to take a back seat to our security right now. Right now our security and the preservation of quality of life is linked to the future of our organizations. Yes, we all have been lost. When we are lost in a place that we feel is safe annoyance is likely as bad as it is going to get. If we get lost in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona we know that we’ll get out of the situation after a few twists and turns in our route. If we lose our way in Boise, Idaho we know we can ask a friendly stranger who will provide us with the directions to set our path right.

The economies of 2006 and 2007 were Scottsdale and Boise. However, the economies of 2009, 2010, and 2011 have been Caracas, Venezuela, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Mogadishu, Somalia. When someone is lost in these places, they aren’t annoyed. They are fearful. They may be terrified. They might believe their life and livelihood is in danger.

Just as you would require someone to guide you and keep you safe in Caracas, the average American worker wants to have someone they trust guiding them at work. They want to know that the future of their organization is safe and that good times are once again ahead. Enlightened CEOs are communicating to their employees about the future of their organizations. They are providing the necessary roadmap for company success. They are transparent even in difficult times because they know that in the absence of information employees will make up their own reality…and it won’t be pretty.

The CEOs around the country who aren’t enlightened better wake up. It’s a scary place out there and a lot of employees feel lost right now. Step up and show people the way or expect that employees won’t be bringing their best to the job – they’ll be too preoccupied with the frightening environment around them. And if your employees aren’t performing because you can’t give them hope, well, you too may soon feel like you’re lost in a dangerous place.