INSTINCTIVE REACTIONS


In a perceived threatening situation, you have three choices:


Reaction #1: FREEZE/SPONTANEOUS INCOMPETENCY (SI)


An overwhelming flood of feelings causes the freeze. When you freeze time can suspend for you for a few moments and your unconscious intent is to blend into the background until the threat has passed. You remain quiet, unmoving yet conscious of your breathing. Depending on the duration, this can lead to a feeling of helplessness.


Reaction #2: FLIGHT


Fear is the primary force that prompts this instinctual reaction. Fear also brings with it a sense of loss of control over your environment. Your initial reaction is to surrender an flee to escape to a safer location.


The repercussions of the flight reaction are withdrawal from the conversation and withhold data, which can be either information or emotions pertinent to the discussion. Previous similar encounters or situations have taught you to be helpless and inactive.


MEASURING ACUTE STRESS


It should now be clear to you that human factor influences on personal and professional performance are very powerful, especially the factors of stress and attitude


So how do we measure stress? One major indicator of stress is simply and subjectively how you feel. Sometimes it is difficult to communicate your feelings or how much stress you are experiencing particularly when your feelings change form moment to moment.


A simple way to measure and communicate your existing stress level is with the Subjective Approximation of Stress Scale or SASS.


Reaction #3: FIGHT


Anger provokes this intense response when feeling threatened. It is when our wellbeing is in danger that we choose to fight. That feeling unleashes a firestorm of inflamed thoughts and hormones. As we get emotionally involved defending our position or our beliefs, we are sure to offend others by speaking without thinking. Research has shown that this is the most common reaction of the four options.


Reaction #4: FRIGHT


This option is a last resort and is generally accompanied by learned helplessness. Fright typically follows the “Flight” reaction. When you realize there is no escaping the threat you mentally erect a barrier between you and the threat. Fright does not occur first, and does not occur in all situations.


From: Resolving Conflict With A 21st Century Mindset. Shari Frisinger (2011). Cornerstone Strategies, LLC.


THE SASS SCALE SASS is fundamental to the stress-performance curve that uses a scale of 1 to 100.


SASS is easy to use. Just remember a time when you were at the low end of the scale perhaps due to illness. Your range under those circumstances would be 1-50. Keep in mind we need some stress in our lives to function. Do not measure your SASS in ranges-a SASS number should be exact. Now remember a time when you were at the high end of the scale; maybe frightened or very agitated. Give that feeling a number of 50-100. Anything over 85 is usually considered a state of ineffectiveness. Try to remember a time when you were feeling balanced, great and very effective. Give that feeling a specific number, that number should be somewhere near 50 to reflect a balanced state.


5 CRM 1


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