Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Troubles come to most workplaces as sparks fly upwards – but have you ever wondered why some people bounce back and others ignite fear and go down with the ashes?  It turns out that definite areas in the brain nudge a person to run away from threats – or stay and fight back. How so?

Let’s say downsizing threats begin to rattle the workplace just after your broker rolled out your new mortgage. Fear creeps in through back doors few people spot ahead, and with it comes personal threat. There are signals.

You may find yourself picking up pace past the director’s door … heart thumping against your ribs  ... after you heard she’s out to get you. Fear often involves relationships.

It could be a moody co-worker accused you of losing the firm’s big contract on your way into a meeting to discuss the term’s finances. New research discoveries show that in most cases … fear triggers threat reflexes that affect your response.

While complex systems in the brain control your reactions to fear … research has been breaking the codes lately. Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging in London recently mapped out mental responses to show how the brain responds to different levels of fear.

They reported in the journal Science, for instance, that the brain's response changes the closer a threat gets. Apparently, unique defense mechanisms are needed depending on the severity of the threat. When threats seemed more distant or less likely to strike brain activity was observed in lower parts of the prefrontal cortex.

This cortex area … just behind the eyebrows … increases activity during anxiety and helps control how you’ll respond to threats. When threats appear closer, your mental activity shifts to an area of the brain that operates more primitive responses – and this is where your brain helps you decide to run or fight.

Researcher Dean Mobbs described how the strategy you use during any threat will depend on how you view the level of threat. It makes sense that the closer a threat comes, the more impulsive your response will be as almost a knee jerk reaction. Sounds to me like a clear case for taking care of fears before the threat grows into a response you may regret. Why is it critical not to neglect fears that come from tension at work?

It appears that when the brain’s fear system malfunctions or overloads,  people begin to suffer from anxiety disorders and panic attacks. Some people exaggerate threat, when the system misfires, and this habit tends to increase anxiety or panic, the research showed. How do you transform fear into calm before it ignites calamity?