WHAT CAUSES EMOTIONAL SPINNING?


Spins are the emotional responses to changes in the wind. A group can spin into excitement over a potentially lucrative merger. A group can spin into rage over the unjust termination of a favored colleague. Emotional spinning results from a combination and cumulative effect of other emotions. Spinning is multicausal. Factors that cause spinning are not only psychological. Spinning, like other group responses can be generated from agendas that are personal, moral, political, physical, symbolic, religious, sociological, economic, or totally without meaning as a response to itself. Personal causes of spinning can be generated from different perceptions, ideologies, belief systems, opinions , status, stress, traditions, environment, causes, desires, preferences, demands, hopes, fantasies, and perceived injustices.

When things are running smoothly businesses generally hum along nicely . The challenge is that life rarely runs along smoothly for very long. Life happens. And along with life happening comes a variety of emotions, weak and strong, pleasant and unpleasant, managed and uncontrollable. Life consists of change. Change is the only unchanging constant. Change demands adjustment. Some people adjust emotional well to change; others do not. Some people are in themselves agents of change. Consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or unintentionally, people interacting with people create change. Change causes spinning. It stirs up the breeze .

Planning for the full range of human responses to change is what Emotional Continuity Management planning is about. It may be less important to have a deep comprehension of the causes of spinning than to appreciate that change creates reaction. A reaction is what a spin is at its onset. A research scientist, terrorism expert, psychologist , psychiatrist , security specialist, or someone writing a book on emotional spinning, should have a comprehensive appreciation of the dynamics of change. The manager should know that spinning doesn't just happen for "no-good-reason." Spinning is always a reaction to something else.

The wonderful thing about human beings is their resiliency. One great feature of resiliency is dramatically evidenced as people recover rapidly to massive changes, even under duress. Stories of the emotional flexibility and adjustments of human beings in overwhelming circumstances are legendary. Most people rise to the occasion. Changes do not spin everyone emotionally. Some people are challenged by change and ascend to greatness and experience deeper calms and transcendent peace . There are countless wonderful stories of significant and traumatic life events that lead people to becoming devoted to a spiritual path , or entering into a life devoted to stillness and serenity, and becoming peaceful change leaders .

There are people who have been in catastrophic situations who have gone beyond their own needs and moved beyond amazing circumstances to act in heroic ways. However, people who have had heroic personalities in one situation can also radically transform into less than heroic stances. Previously strong leaders can just as easily become completely incapable of functioning during crisis and the changes associated with a catastrophe. One small event can be the last straw in an already crumbling psyche. Kind and gentle folks can suddenly become monsters and fiends while just as unexpectedly a former fiend becomes a saint . Changes at all levels, from annoying adaptations to catastrophic upheavals, tend to bring out the best and the worst reactions and responses in people. A positive emotional spin of support, care, compassion, love, peace and hope can easily be cancelled by a negative spin of abandonment, retribution, anger, rage, and revenge .

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Case Example

Sergeant Miller was the perfect embodiment of command and respected by his troops who readily turned to the officer for strength and direction. When an air crash happened near the base, the unit was deployed and assigned the grisly task of body recovery. The young troops stood ready for their orders. No one expected that Sgt. Miller would be huddled down in the corner of the office weeping uncontrollably. The sergeant was hospitalized and replaced by a new officer. The young troops felt confused , abandoned , and betrayed by Sgt. Miller. They were overwhelmed by the assigned duty of body retrieval and the loss of leadership. Twenty years later this incident continued to be an unresolved issue for one of the soldiers, Troy, who entered counseling because he kept losing relationships and jobs due to his antagonism toward collaborative partnership and authority figures. At 45, this former soldier had experienced being terminated from 11 jobs, had 4 marriages and 3 divorces.

Learning Byte

Troy was never debriefed after the traumatic events of that awful day of the airline accident and carried his emotions around unconsciously, seeking a safe place to vent his rage. He was emotionally unstable by being forced into a large-change event that was not under his control. He felt even more chaotic because of his shame that he seemed to be the only one of his buddies that was still upset over this old incident. Any manager he worked with became a symbolic Sgt. Miller and Troy acted out his unresolved pain. Troy had an internal spin that he needed to externalize and ventilate. He created emotional spins wherever he went in his distorted effort to release his anguish.

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Case Example

Andrea feared horses. Tuesday she was at a neighborhood horse ranch to visit her friend Lanny who taught riding to supplement his income. A large horse spooked and tried to jump a fence. The stallion's leg caught a metal edge of fencing and ripped open an artery. Lanny, busy with his business hurried to take care of students while Andrea stood in horror seeing the pool of blood get bigger. Lanny began to panic and scream at the students. Andrea knew this was a prized horse, the center of Lanny's financial security, and at risk. She grabbed gauze, knelt into the pool of blood, and put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. The horse was saved. The cost of the vet bill was less than the loss that the death of this horse would have brought to Lanny's new business

Learning Byte

Emotional spinning comes from a reaction to something internal or external. Troy reacted emotionally to old information. Lanny reacted to new information. Andrea rose to the occasion in an unpredictable manner.

DO THIS: Anticipate that emotional spinning may happen in unexpected circumstances and create unexpected reactions.

DON'T: Try to predict the unpredictable. Just be prepared for it for it to happen.

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Why People Make Decisions to Spin

Trying To Avoid Something or Someone

Trying to Control Something or Someone

Fear

Pressure

Retaliation

Inattention

Ambition

Doing Something For The Company Against Best Interests

Doing What's Rewarded

Misguided Loyalties

Path Of Least Resistance

Politics

Anxiety

Empathy

Accountability

Fatigue

Uncertainty

Ignorance

Dysfunction

Pathology

Emotional Terrorism




Emotional Terrors in the Workplace. Protecting Your Business' Bottom Line. Emotional Continuity Management in the Workplace
Emotional Terrors in the Workplace: Protecting Your Business Bottom Line - Emotional Continuity Management in the Workplace
ISBN: B0019KYUXS
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 228

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