“I was sitting in a meeting and suddenly felt disconnected. like I could see people were speaking but not really hear them. What’s that about and what can I do?
This was a great question we were asked this week and explored with a leader.
What we uncovered occurs so often for leaders (regardless of the size of your team - massive or the team of one - self leading).
You might have found yourself in situations like it.
In this situation "Susie*" was in a meeting when this disconnect happened.
She'd asked for support but became very self judgemental about asking and became self conscious.
She stopped focusing on the meeting, instead felt scared of being judged, seen as inadequate, unprofessional or done something wrong. Her nervous system became activated and her thoughts escalated into catastrophe, triggering her fight, flight, fawn, freeze response.
This lead to her no longer focusing on the team or contributing to meeting. Instead she feared her boss would fire her.
When she reflected back she realised no-one was reacting from a place of judgement. Her boss appreciated her and had recently increased her responsibilities.
So what can help if you're triggered?
These six simple steps might help:
Self awareness
What’s triggered you
What you do in response to that
Impact around you and within you
Questions to help shift you out of that
Simple strategies you can use
(* name changed for obvious reasons)