while en route to your neo-cortex can cause you all sorts of problems!

Last week I was in San Antonio Texas giving a breakout session for NBAA’s Schedulers and Dispatcher’s Conference on getting results with no authority.

A key point to know is how your brain reacts to threats.  We feel before we think. Emotions come before thoughts. Your thoughts normally progress from your amygdala to your neo-cortex.  Your amygdala houses your emotions and your long-term memory.  Your neo-cortex holds your logic and your short-term memory.  When your thoughts stop at your amygdala and stay there, several things happen:

• you have a slowdown in your thought process, which can last up to 20 minutes
• continuing on this destructive path, toxins can remain in your system for up to four hours
• as long as these toxins are in your system, especially the first 20 minutes, the more likely you are to relive the emotional event

One way to keep your emotions in check is to remember

It’s not what they said, it’s what you think you heard

BC&A reports that the “Top Ten Threats Cited in EMS ASRA [NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System] Reports:

Mission Preparation/Operational Pressure                    93%

Excessive Workload                                                      84%

Communication Difficulties                                            75%

. . .

Distractions                                                                  28%

Pilot                                                                              17%

Assume that EMS personnel are trained and are accustomed to working under stress.  75% of the time they consider communication difficulties a threat?  What does that mean for the rest of us that do not generally work under stress …. our stress experiences has peaks and valleys.

How many times in a typical day do we ‘visit’ the fight/flight/freeze arena?  And how long do we remain that prisoner?   When we sense that our unconscious reactions will overtake our conscious actions, we need to focus on the outcome we want, not escaping from the current situation.

How difficult is it for us to communicate clearly the first time?  And what are our consequences if we don’t.  And how do we know if our meaning and intention are clearly stated?  We can take cues from the other person/people, we can restate our communications several times in several different ways, we can ask them to repeat [not regurgitate] what you said … and you can ask for feedback.

It’s not what you said … it’s what they think they heard.

Yes there really is a sickness called “Hurry Up Syndrome”!  I knew this disease existed, I was surprised that it had a real scientific name!  According to University of Manchester’s Dr. James Reason, this time crunch that we operate under increases the chance that we will make a mistake by 11 times.*

When we are operating with this malady, we tend to make decisions based more on emotion than relying on fact, or on a combination of facts and emotion.  Our perspective changes, and our natural cautious checkpoints are crushed.  We are focused on completing the task, resolving the uncomfortable or threatening situation, or wanting the offending person to leave us alone!  In other words, our amygdala [Amy, as my clients know it] hijacks and takes control of our thinking.  Our neo-cortex is not given the opportunity to take over.

EMS pilots are especially susceptible to this … they have a critical care patient they must fly from Point A to Point B.  Knowing this is a critical flight, can cause these pilots to take risks they may not have taken otherwise.

Think of how your communication changes when you are experiencing “hurry up syndrome”.

It isn’t what they said, it’s what you think you heard!

*B&CA magazine, October 2008, p. 44

Points to Ponder :

“Few minds wear out; more rust out” -Christian Nestell Bovee

How often do you exercise your brain? You may say you do it every day — after all, you think, analyze, ponder, assess, and imagine each and every day.

I respectfully disagree with you …. and let me ask you when is the last time that you:

• Painted, sculpted, played an instrument … that you don’t normally do?
• Moved items that are typically on your left side to your right, and worked with them on the ‘opposite’ side?
• Wrote with your opposite hand? And wrote more than your name to give an added challenge?
• Did a puzzle that you normally don’t … Sudoku, crossword, anagram, logic?
•  Learned words in a new language, or to a new song or poem?
• Built a model airplane, or create something out of Lego’s or PlayDoh?

These activities will engage either the right or the left side of your brain muscle and keep your thinking sharp and creative. An added benefit is releasing the ‘other’ side of your brain, giving it an opportunity to rest. Remember Effective Ways of Dealing with Overwhelm?

As with all new workout regimes, it may feel awkward or uncomfortable, and you may get frustrated and be tempted to quit. Don’t take yourself so seriously and keep at it … you might be amazed at your progress!

All previous Quick Communique, Points To Ponder are available on my website.  They are listed on the right side under the Newsletters tab. The left side has our library of complimentary Articles.  We’ll be adding more in the coming weeks, and we’ll let you know in this ‘block’. 

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There are many things that can cause someone’s defenses to skyrocket. Your emotional brain, specifically your amygdala, plays a huge role in how you remember your past.  We know the more emotional you felt an event, the more likely you are to relive it with that same level of emotion.

My question to you is: how do you react when someone’s defenses get thrust in your face? Do you react negatively? Do you feel your blood pressure rise, your heart pound in your chest, your eyes popping out of your head and your hands instinctively reaching for someone’s neck?  You are in a “fight or flight” situation, cortisol runs rampant through your brain and adrenaline rushes through your veins.  This ‘episode’ lasts approximately 20 minutes.

Or do you handle the situation calmly, with steady breathing and rational thoughts?  You have consciously stopped your emotional brain from going into a totally reactive state.

What is it about that position that you get defensive about? Do you feed off the other person’s emotions, knowing full well that you are locked in a negative embrace spiraling downward?

When you can break yourself free of this hypnotic state, ask yourself: Are you reacting purely to their words, or more to their rage? By doing this and changing your reactions — consciously altering your actions — you will stop that error chain and change the outcome of your interaction.

They key is to consciously alter your actions.

And remember, during these heated moments, it’s not what they said, it’s what you think you heard.

When we are under stress, we regress to the behaviors that we are most comfortable with, the ones that we can do without conscious thought. In the middle of an argument, we may find we behave the same way we did with a former spouse or friend. When the boss calls us into their office, we may experience the same negative thoughts going through our mind as you did when you were younger and the boss chewed you out?

Our brain will selectively “pull in” sensory input and piece them together to form today’s reality based on yesterday’s experiences.

Remembering that your perception is your reality, what do you think of this sentence: Our perception is not only learned, it is also selective.

If we reacted to every stimulus that we encountered, we would be constantly overwhelmed. So we learn to filter out those stimuli that we deem are unnecessary or inappropriate to our situation. How often do you ‘tune out’ TV commercials? Or fast forward through them with your DVR.

When you see something you are unfamiliar with, how often do you relate it to something you already know?

How many times have you looked for something, only to have it in plain sight?

Ever notice how, after you purchase a car, you see many of the same car or made by the same manufacturer?

Have you ever thought highly of someone, ignoring their faults, until you have had a falling out …. Then you see everything you didn’t see before?

The more aware you are of your own triggers and those things that can “color your world” , the better equipped your are to handle the situation appropriately.

It’s not what your eyes saw, it’s what your mind thinks you saw.

The studies have finally caught up with what we all know:  business owners are losing sleep because of the economy.  Anyone that owns a business with less than 99 employees, is an executive for a company with less than 99 employees, or works for a small company, has known this since at least last November.

Other insights from the Atlanta Business Journal

• 81 percent expect to cut costs in some way in 2009
• 42 percent expect to eliminate or cut back expenses in 2009
• 21 percent expect to lay off workers in 2009

So how are you dealing with your employees’ stress?  Are you keeping your communication lines open, or are you avoiding any discussions on feelings?  Are you honest and direct about the state of your company, or are you telling everyone that “life is grand and we have nothing to worry about”.

These are precisely the types of seminars that Shari offers …working with companies that know there are communication challenges or issues, yet do not know how to begin or continue dealing with them.

If this reminds you of your company, call Shari at 281.992.4136 to see if and how she can help.

Continuing my thread of last week: aviation, Captainitis and the pilot ego ….

When you are stressed, how do you react? Do you fall into behaviors that you did years ago? In other words, do you regress? It may be something as simple as immediately rationalizing the situation or mumbling to yourself instead of talking directly to the person. Or it could be something drastic like slamming doors or speaking before thinking.

Or perhaps you have driven a stick shift car for years and years, and now you are driving an automatic. Let’s say you see you will be in an accident. In an effort to slow down, your left foot goes for the clutch and you shift the car into a lower gear. This is a regressive behavior.

Studies have found that pilots, when encountering a drastic situation in the aircraft, can regress to flying not the aircraft they are currently flying, but to do what they would do in a previously flown aircraft.

Stress can certainly include fatigue. In 1982, a Malaysian Airline System crew were flying an Airbus for Scandinavian Airlines. One would think that an Airbus is an Airbus … in this instance there were differences between the Malaysian Airbus and the Scandinavian Airbus. One of the differences was the ILS switches; the Malaysian Airbus had two positions, the Scandinavian Airbus had three positions.

This trip was extremely arduous, having four take-offs and landings. During the last landing, the first officer was having difficulty keeping the plane under control. The primary problem in this instance was that the first officer, in his moments of stress, had regressed to flying the Malaysian Airbus with the two positioned ILS, even though he was actively flying the Scandinavian Airbus with three positions.

The switches were similar, not exact. The more similar the item provoking interest or attention, the greater the chance of making a mistake.

Let me ask you …. What frustrating or difficult situations are you experiencing that causes you to exhibit regressive behavior?

Note: this thread will continue over the next several weeks.