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by: Shelle
Rose Charvet
What is your response?
The pressure cooker is on! Longer hours, less patience, more
demanding work situations than ever before. How do you respond to the
pressures, at work or elsewhere, which are typical for the context
you are in? This is not about major life dramas. Almost everyone would have
an emotional response to major life dramas. People respond to these "normal"
pressures in one of the following three ways.
In
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Feelings
People with a Feelings pattern have emotional responses
to the normal levels of stress at work. They go into their emotions
and stay there. High stress jobs may cause them to have stress-related illnesses
in the long term. To many other people, they seem to over react to situations
or be hyper-sensitive. They are well suited for artistic or creative work where
emotion provides the juice. As salespeople, they find it difficult to handle
rejection and may not, as a result, prospect as often as they should.
Choice
People with a Choice pattern first have an emotional response
to the normal stresses at work and then either return to an unemotional
state or not as they desire, in a given situation. They can empathize
with others or choose not to. They tend to perform well as people managers.
Thinking
Those with a Thinking pattern do not have emotional
responses to normal stressful situations. They have trouble empathizing
with others as they themselves do not go into emotional states. They will not
panic in most emergencies, but keep a cool head. They are reliable performers
in high stress jobs.
Managing Stress and People
Most of the population at work has the Choice pattern (70%).
This means, that when faced with a difficult or troublesome situation,
they will first have an emotional response. As a manager, you can assist
by helping the person disassociate themselves from their feelings, if appropriate,
by having them change perspectives. There are a couple of ways to do this. You
can distort time by asking them: "Can you imagine what we'll think about
this situation 2 years from now?" You can have them see it from someone
else's shoes: "How do think our customers will perceive this?" Or
you can have them view the whole thing from the outside: "If you were a
fly on the wall when this happened what would you notice?"
For Feeling people you will probably have to hone up
on your conflict resolution and mediation skills. Give them tasks that
they can get passionate about and watch for signs of distress and overload of
tension. Remember that these people may over-react to situations, and helping
them to dissociate, as mentioned above for the Choice employees, may help in
some situations. For highly intense reactions, create rapport by also raising
your tone while saying something positive or surprising. "I'm so upset
about you being upset, that I am ready to tear my hair out!" Saying something
like that will get the person's attention so that you can then channel their
energy on a more
Productive path
Thinking people are highly appreciated where there
is need for someone with a cool head. These people spend much time
already disassociated from their feelings and can be called in when a rational
approach is needed. Do not expect them, however to create rapport with others
who are in an emotional state, because they will have no sympathy. Thinking
people can, however, take the heat and will be able to stay in the kitchen!
What is your pattern?
Other article you may be interested in:
Dealing
with Emotional Stress
Stress
and Concentration
Understanding Job Stress and How to Deal With It
Shelle Rose Charvet is the President of Success
Strategies and the author of the international best-selling book Words
That Change Minds.
She is recognized as a world expert on the Language of Influence.
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