You walked into a high stakes budget meeting and much to your surprise, a colleague you absolutely do not trust is leading the meeting.
What did you feel in your body?
Maybe you felt an emotional trigger. Your heart rate increased, blood pressure went up, and felt some tightness in your neck.
What happened?
Your central nervous system sensed danger and went into self-protect mode; fight or flight. In a fraction of a second, with zero logical input, your body automatically responded with the
release of adrenaline and the hormone cortisol. This auto response limited access to the prefrontal cortex of your brain. The thinking and logic portion. Your brain did this to protect you from a perceived threat.
These responses are all important, if you need to run away to protect yourself. Not so good if you are going to remain in the meeting and logically work through some challenges.
How long did it take you to calm down and regain control from this trigger? A few moments, longer, or maybe not fully returning to a calm state during the meeting?
Let’s go to the other end of the spectrum and examine your response if a person you fully trusted was leading the meeting. Your brain would have released oxytocin, a hormone associated with personal attachment. Adrenalin and cortisol would be reduced, allowing access to your prefrontal cortex.
Now that feels much better.
Individuals operating in a culture of mistrust are cautious, tentative, and hesitant. Why? To protect themselves. Trust, is the limiting factor for the speed and effectiveness of an organization.
Here are some considerations to determine the potential speed of your organization.
• Assess the level of trust you personally have of your team and colleagues
• Develop the tools to regain control when triggered
• Assess the level of trust your team and colleagues have of you
Assessing Your Leaders, Team, and Colleagues
Mistrust at any degree creates higher stress and potentially suboptimum performance. Where and in what scenarios are you stressed because of mistrust? Start your analysis with individuals or instances that produce the most triggering responses.
Several simple questions to start the analysis:
• What is the source of the mistrust?
• Does the level of mistrust warrant your current response?
• What is the greatest risk to allowing more trust to this individual?
As you work through the above, you will likely moderate your view to a more accurate assessment.
Regaining Control When Triggered
This is recognizing and controlling your reaction when triggered.
Start with a healthy foundation: sleep, exercise, and diet. These elements can help keep your stressors low and ensure you have a reserve to deal with future stressful challenges.
Next is creating a resilient mindset. Having practices that allow you to effectively respond. It is rare that a fight or flight response is warranted. Quickly gaining control of your automatic response will make you more effective.
Assess the Trust Others Have of You
Take the perspective of others and assess how much trust they have of you.
• What is their response when they enter a room and you are leading a meeting?
• How often are they triggered when they have to interact with you?
Leadership is a bond of trust. What emotional and physiological affects do you have on others? Do their actions reflect that they feel safe? If yes, you reduce their stress, allow attachment, and free them intellectually and emotionally to do their best work.
Your organization operates at the speed of trust within. How fast is it moving?
