Organizational Stressand Parallel Process

based on the work of Dr. Sandra Bloom: Destroying Sanctuary: the crisis in human

delivery systems

Introduction• There has been a lot of stress within social

service organizations (true or false?) !

• Most of employee stress in those organizations does NOT come from those we serve

• Most stress comes from the organization itself

Slings and Arrows

• Downsizing

• Increased workload

• Increased job complexity

• Loss of role definition

• Frustrated career development

• Increased risk

• Ethical conflicts – trashing the organization

Current Stressors(these may sound familiar)

• Combination of economic scarcity, recession, widening gap between demand and resources, massive tech changes, increasing compliance/regulatory requirements

• Leads to deeply uncertain organizations, affecting individuals at all levels of the organization

• Combo of uncertainty with likelihood of change is one of the biggest stressors of all

Staff suffer: demoralized, hostile, counter-aggressive

Leaders: perplexed, overwhelmed, ineffective, authoritarian, avoidant, more punitive

Staff: passive-aggressive, helpless, overtly aggressive

Stress and the Brain

• Humans use various parts of their brains at various times:– Primitive Brain (survival)– Emotional Brain (modulate anxiety and fear)– Thinking Brain (complex problem solving and

future planning)

• Guess which part is used under stress?

Emotional BrainEmotional Brain

(Restak, 1988)

AND Bodies have influence too…

• First thing that changes during intense fear?– Heart rate goes up

• The increased heart rate signals the need for vigilance and escape

• The increased heart rate ALONE causes the primitive brain to become alerted

Hypervigilance

• Hallmark of the primitive brain

• Important survival mechanism

• Can be deceiving

• Pulls one’s attention away from learning.

It’s a zero-sum situation

• ↑ activation of the emotional and primitive brain results in ↓ activation of the thinking part of the brain

• ↑ activation of the thinking brain results in ↓ activation of the emotional and primitive parts of the brain

Chronically Scared Individuals

• Have chronically increased heart rates… • Which means the “primitive brain” is on alert

– Including the hypervigilance part– Focus is on short-term survival, not long-term strategy

• And the “thinking brain” is less available– Concentration is poor– Learning is poor; complexity gives way to simplicity

• Eventually, everything is seen through the lens of “stressed brain” !

• And THIS…. Is being Trauma-Organized

Which Means

• That chronically stressed people begin to create their own reality

• See threats where none exist• Feel slights where none were intended• React passively or aggressively in order to

assess the “threat”• Circle the wagons and shoot inward• Do not work as efficiently or effectively

– Too busy staying alive!

Parallel Process

When two or more systems have significant relationships with one another, they develop similar attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors.

Parallel processes are set in motion in many ways, and once initiated leave no one untouched.

Unrest in one part of an organization may be played out in another part of the organization, without anyone ever making the connection.

Organizations are People Too

• Can be traumatized– Chronic stress– Acute stress

• Resist change (even positive change)

• Resist new leadership

• Become trauma- organized

Trauma-organized

• Participatory processes break down• Decisions become oversimplified

– May create more problems than they solve• Interpersonal conflicts erupt and aren’t dealt with• Mission is lost• Loss of sense of future• Strategy makes way for urgency• Crisis mode• Us/them mentality• Loss of communication

Heading Downhill

• Emotional intelligence decreases• Methods of control become pathological

– Punitive measures that get reflected “downhill”

• Feeling of helplessness leads to desperation to take control

• Employees react to control measures by various forms of aggressive and passive-aggressive acting out

Five Squirrels

• Donald Geisler 2005. “Meaning from Media: the Power of Organizational Culture”. Organization Development Journal 23 (1): 81-83.

The System Grinds On

• Workers do the best they can• Frequent job changes, searching for a

better place to be, searching for a way to mitigate the anxiety

• Long-timers become hopeless, cynical and demoralized

• Even new leaders and members quickly get caught up in old ways and old emotions

The Role of Crises

• Create intense feelings

• Allow people to momentarily work together for common survival

• Commonality then erodes until the next crisis occurs

Inability to Learn (remember the cortex part?)

• Nothing really changes

• Loss of corporate memory

• Change efforts are met with passive resistance

• Competent leaders are chased off

• Lack of transparency and air of secrecy

So what happens?

• Major (unconscious) motivation is containment of anxiety

• More important, even, than solving the problem• Organization is therefore vulnerable to engage

in activities that contain anxiety but are ultimately destructive to organizational purpose

Dire Straits

• The very things that help us are those most affected by this chronic stress– Relationships– Hope– Therapeutic healing rituals– Humor

OK… so what do we do?

• Get educated about what is going on – At the individual level– At the group level– At the organizational levelInformation is a way to settle down!

• Use cognitive tricks to engage the thinking part of the brain and decrease the effects of the primitive part of the brain

• Become healthy as a group

Recovery

• Group pulls together in unified action – Find a common goal related to mission

• Social support is best antidote to anxiety– Spend time with each other; seek information

• Commitment to SAFETY– Physical, psychological, social, moral– Be kind

• Concrete steps to build a sense of community– Humor, rituals, include everyone

Recovery, continued

• Give everyone a voice: this also builds complexity

• Learn together how to manage intense emotion• Avoid secrets• Develop a learning organization (increases

emotional intelligence)• Recover lost knowledge• Honor history and mission• Assume the best – of yourself and others

Recovery, continued

• Time, time, time• Be aware of hyperarousal• Reconnect with organizational misson• Recognize legitimate fears• Conversation, discussion, dialogue

Communicate

• Focus less on new rules for every new situation and more on complex thinking

• Commit to engaging in processes that assess, examine, and produce new organizational responses to complex individual and group situations

• Remain open to new information

Be With One Another

• Laugh

• Play

• Commiserate

• Hope

• Work

• Produce

Trauma-Informed

• Communication and transparency

• Deep democracy – Having a voice is not the same as having a

vote, but it crucially important– Feeling heard

• Flexible, creative, future-oriented

• HOPE