Stop strapping me into this rollercoaster!
As we are all human biological machines the odds that we will have a very bad day either at work, during sport, within community events etc. is high. A bad day is always loitering there on the edges waiting for the right conditions to engage and send us into an uncontrolled spiral.
When the bad day hits you, it's not because you’ve forgotten all your experiences or your skills magically disappear but rather incidents and mistakes occur and reoccur that ramp up the pressure and continue to do so as your cognitive and physical ability to break the cycle unhinges reducing you to a wet mess on the floor praying it all away even though you are not in the least bit spiritual.
You started the work day, event or game like any other but something happens early on that puts you off track. No problem you think and forge ahead but another mistake happens and you now feel a fine line of cold pressure creeping up your back. With foggy persistence you continue even harder but another mistake happens and this time the impact is bigger, the big customer is now outraged, your team is a goal down with a few minutes to go etc. At work you go into tunnel vision and work harder, rush and don’t communicate. At sport you move faster but not smoothly, not relaxed and you stop looking beyond immediate focus, you don’t hear your team and you don’t communicate. In both situations the body and muscles tense, breathing is not controlled and nothing beyond what is in front of your face has priority and resources.
If this continues we know what happens, nothing good and the situation is compounded with a mindset to make it better, fix it and release the pressure at all costs. I’ve seen this over the years particularly in customer and live site support/daily customer operations and sporting events. A mistake at work or in a game at the wrong time, compounding previous mistakes is like taking a rollercoaster ride, we strap ourselves in and spiral out of control and we can’t get off until the ride is over, when the worst is done. We’re left exhausted, feeling sick and nothing to show but a flood of tears and sweat as is often the case with rollercoasters. Now there are procedures in place to manage this in most organisations, hell you wrote a few of them but still occasionally you fall into a spiral and go loop da loop.
At the heart of why we spiral is what I call the “Pressure Play” and here are its important factors to understand.
We want to do the right thing, to fix the situation and are willing to do whatever it takes to make this happen. Unfortunately if issues compound and the pressure ramps up we don’t think clearly and rush, bypass rules and keep rushing into mistakes.
Fear of failure is always sitting on our shoulders whether we want to admit that or not. Nudging us on until we go too far and fear is now in the driving seat.
We worry about what others are saying and thinking, that we can fix this before anyone notices and we’re happy to be the silent martyr.
We fear loss of standing and that our performance history will be tainted.
Is there a way off the rollercoaster or can we at least slow it down? There is but it's not as easy as reads but hope nonetheless.
You will only realise you are on the path to spiral, strapping yourself into a rollercoaster you don't want to ride, if you are aware that a spiral situation can happen to you, yes you and you have a trigger if it does that kicks off a ready made plan to help.
As a manager you too will have a trigger and a plan but it will also cover when one of your team is managing an incident or in a spiral. As managers we don’t like to micro manage and if our reports own something we trust them to get the job done. However in spiral situations there is a fine line where directed support at the right time is critical.
The first and most important move is to Step Out and Step Back. Stop what you are doing, step out of the situation, literally walk away and take a look from the balcony at what is going on and how you are performing. Confer with your “don’t strap me on the rollercoaster” plan.
For those that have gone too far and can’t see they are strapped in, the manager or other overseer needs to help them SO + SB so the right questions can be asked. Knowing that your first sense will be to let them sort it out themselves but listen to your spider senses and observe, pick a point when you know you will need to interject and help.
Stress, worry, tight muscles, over exertion etc. play a big role closing down strategic thinking and playing out scenarios of what might happen if current circumstances persist. In spirals, maintaining a positive physiology seems impossible and it’s always close to flat lining. Your step back action should include movement, breathing and self-compassion techniques to help stabilize your body and mind so you are relaxed and clear to see a way forward. This is not namby-pamby stuff. The most elite soldiers box breathe when in situations we could never imagine so they can regain calm and think their way forward.
Discuss spiral situations with your team; when they have happened in the past, what worked well and what didn’t and create a shared meaning, plan and trigger signs to spot when people need help. A culture of no blame, no scapegoats, no failure but rather just different results is important to help water down Pressure Play thinking.
We’ve all heard of the perfect storm and it doesn’t just happen at sea. Our minds are the most powerful mechanisms on the planet but they are complex, don’t work independently of the body and are not immune to outside perception and self sabotage. The most important thing is building your awareness about what and why spirals happen. Teams and especially customer support teams will have SLA’s and emergency incident procedures but since we’re human the right conditions could still hit and procedures won’t be followed for one reason or another and the Pressure Play is activated. Build awareness so you continue to look on front line and customer operations (Rollercoasters) as exhilarating and fun experiences.
