Lisa is an honors graduate from a prestigious Ivy League University who was recruited five years after graduation by a rapidly growing Fortune 500 Company. She advanced quickly through three management levels and is now being groomed to assume the position of Director of a new division within the year. Th is promotion is the primary reason her corporation offered her an Executive MBA program. And it was an incident in this graduate program that threw up a major roadblock in Lisa's career path.
She had been selected as team leader for a very important case study module in which problems and opportunities must be researched, analyzed, and evaluated in a major multimedia program. As team leader, Lisa was scheduled for the first round which was held in one of the business school's stadium–seating lecture rooms with full AV support. Lisa reported feeling "very excited and positive" about her key role in this assignment, particularly since group presentation was one of her strongest skill sets.
A "vague feeling of uneasiness" is how Lisa described her feelings as she stepped onto the platform and was somewhat surprised at how the crowd of over 300 students and teachers "stared down" at her. As she heard herself say "Good afternoon," over the sound system, her world changed dramatically. Her vision began to fluctuate in and out of focus, her hands became cold and sweaty, her breathing became rapid, and she reported a dizziness that made her clutch the podium in order not to fall. After what seemed like several minutes, the symptoms began to diminish and she repeated her greeting of "Good Afternoon" and glanced down at her notes. It was the awful blank memory of what to do or say next that was at first baffling and then humiliating to her. After a half–minute of silence, she finally said, "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me," and began to weep as she walked off the platform and back to her seat. She did not get any relief even when another team member went to the podium, made a few remarks which brought the audience to their feet giving her a round of supportive applause, and then continued with a smooth presentation.
When Lisa met with her professor a few days later, she reported that he was very understanding and supportive, yet firm in his insistence the she perform at a more professional level. She appreciated the opportunity he gave her for a second chance to perform this presentation module in only four weeks. Despite the support and vote of confidence she received from her professor, Lisa found herself sleeping poorly and obsessing over the incident. These maladaptive symptoms prompted her to seek executive coaching services.
During her first coaching session, Lisa was not at all defensive. In fact, she described her mistakes in detail, took full responsibility for them, and was willing to make the necessary changes for improved performance. However, so far, she lamented, all of her efforts and good intentions had not erased her fear nor restored her confidence.
In Lisa's case, since the abreaction was a single event, and her physician could discover no underlying physical cause, it is highly probable that she experienced an intense fear reaction triggered by multiple stress factors. Subsequent feelings of humiliation, depression, lack of confidence, and anxiety are most likely a constant fear of repeating the incident or, as FDR put it, "Fear of fear itself."
Two popular managerial methods for training behavior change, "carrot –– stick" and "empathy –– persuasion" have relatively poor records of success. The first method draws the attention of the brain to pain or to pleasure (the absence of pain) which almost always triggers a fear reaction in the brain's amygdala. Daniel Goleman, in his book Emotional Intelligence, coined the term, "amygdala hijack," which describes the over–powering "fight or flight" response in the frontal regions of the old mammalian brain. The result is a recurring negative thought process called "ruminating," which keeps an individual in a looping fear response.
The second method, empathy–persuasion, depends upon empathy to produce positive feelings toward the trainer or manager in order that the persuasion can be more influential. The only problem here is that the brain possesses considerable "circuitry" that declares, "Change is pain!" Certain neural nets in the lower regions of the brain are dedicated to homeostasis which helps restore body functions to previous levels when fluctuations are detected. Unfortunately, this process can dramatically impair any change, even beneficial change.
FOCUS IS THE POWER QEEG brain scans reveal that repeated focus on solution–oriented thoughts, feelings, images, and actions increase certain brainwave patterns. Th is electrical activity includes bursts of higher frequency Gamma brainwaves which immediately precede experiences of insight or Eureka episodes. Studies at Northwestern University's Institute for Neuroscience by Mark Jung–Beeman also show that these patterns synthesize many links across the brain.
THE SOLUTION CAN BE SIMPLE AND FAST Lisa began training immediately for Zero Point Relaxation which helps interrupt and calm automatic reactive EEG patterns. Concurrently she began working with three very powerful questions that sharpen focus into intention.
- Am I bringing my highest and best self to this situation?
- Am I bringing my highest and best wisdom to this situation?
- Am I bringing my highest and best perspective to this situation?
These procedures began to bring insights to Lisa almost immediately. She began to focus on her insights by formulating her intentions in a process of Mental Rehearsal. The result was an MBA with honors, a corporate promotion, and a life–long set of skills for managing herself and others into peak performance.
