Psychology, Emotion and Intuition in Work Relationships

The Head, Heart and Gut Professional

Henry Brown, Neil Dawson, Brenda McHugh

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351400107
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Psicologia
• Categoria: Psicologia in industrie e organizzazioni

Psychology, Emotion and Intuition in Work Relationships: The Head, Heart and Gut Professional highlights the increasing importance of human relations in professional life. In modern society, all those who work with or provide services to others are increasingly called upon to be not just technical experts, but also 'head, heart and gut professionals' – who can work and relate to others with their head, heart, and gut.

The book explains and synthesises these elements in an accessible way, based on a sound theoretical perspective combined with practical guidance. The authors address how to manage client expectations; how to deal with risk, uncertainty and imperfection, as well as how to improve communication and interpersonal skills. Attention is also given to the central role of empathy and rapport in professional relationships, while recognising the need for proper professional boundaries.

Psychology, Emotion and Intuition in Work Relationships will be a valuable guide for all modern practising and training professionals in a broad range of fields, including mental health, law, social and healthcare, teaching and academia, technology, financial and other services – indeed, for anyone who provides services and has working relationships of any kind.

Chapter 1
On being a professional

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Credit: Andrey Popov 123RF

The concept of “professional” in this work

There are different kinds of professionals.

Traditional professions are occupations that require extensive education and training leading to specialised knowledge and a formal qualification, regulated by professional bodies that seek to ensure that members comply with prescribed and expected standards and ethics of practice and conduct. These include medicine, law, dentistry, accountancy, architecture, teaching and academia, social work, psychotherapy and counselling, nursing, engineering, surveying, librarianship and religious ministry.

Other professions include expert service fields such as complementary healthcare, banking, financial and insurance services, information technology (IT), management, human resources and public relations, the creative arts, media and publishing, journalism, advertising, marketing, the military, police, fire, ambulance and other emergency services, and many forms of advisory and consultancy services.

A “professional” may also mean someone who earns a living from an activity, as distinct from someone who follows similar activities for pleasure as an unpaid amateur. Hence, we may refer to an amateur sportsman has having “turned professional”.

Those who provide expert skilled services in crafts or trades, such as plumbing, electrical work, carpentry, motor repairs, hairdressing and others may not traditionally be viewed as members of a “profession”, but they too are professionals in relation to the issues outlined in this book, which are relevant to all these different forms of professionalism and skilled services, especially where working relationships need to be maintained.

A more effective professional role and understanding

The focus on substantive education and training

In most fields of professional activity there is a vast amount to learn. Educators are faced with stark choices as to what aspects are fundamental and what can be left to be developed after qualification. It is not surprising that primary attention is given to substantive knowledge and that anything considered peripheral or “soft” and unquantifiable knowledge is placed lower down the chain of learning or – more usually – omitted entirely.

So, for example, while aspects concerning psychology, neuroscience or relationships may be fundamental to some professions such as counselling, psychotherapy and social work, these have relatively low priority for most other professions and, where included at all, tend to be addressed on a minimal or optional basis.

Consequently, many people qualify as professionals without any insights into why people behave and respond the way they do, how to manage expectations or how to work with high conflict personalities or people with different and perhaps challenging personality traits, notwithstanding the profound impact that such understanding has on the work that they do; nor does training generally aim to outline how best to cope with competing systemic tensions or with uncertainty or imperfection. “We are not counsellors or therapists” becomes a common defensive mantra.

Practical matters flowing from these aspects such as effective communication, rapport and negotiation and dealing with conflict and disputes are similarly often left unaddressed.

The aspiration of this book is to cover these topics and others of professional and personal interest and relevance such as purpose and meaning, reflective practice and self-nurturing, support resources, and managing change, transitions and endings. It aims to do so by way of a concise but reasonably comprehensive introduction. For those who wish to probe further into any particular aspect, there is a further reading section at the end of each chapter.

Gaining some understanding of the behaviour of others

All working relationships are important, some profoundly so, whether with clients, patients, colleagues, support personnel, students or others. However, it would be unrealistic to expect, in the course of an ordinary professional relationship, to develop any deep understanding as to why individuals behave the way they do, or to know what may have influenced them and helped carve out their fundamental and innermost beliefs or world views.

In Mediation: A Psychological Insight into Conflict Resolution, Freddie Strasser and Paul Randolph describe “world views” as “the meanings, values and belief systems that [people] create in order to survive the uncertainties of existence”.

However, we can develop better understandings of the factors that influence people in their decision-making, why some people may be more prone to certain kinds of behaviour than others and what the best way to respond may be – in often imperfect circumstances. We can learn about personality differences and patterns of behaviour that will make our work more effective and our reactions more relevant.

We can learn what practices enhance our relationships and what are more likely to damage them; what communications are effective and what are more likely to be negatively received; when acting like a friend in a working relationship is likely to be counter-productive; and how everyday strategies can improve working relationships.

Whatever our field of work we can learn how to manage stress, anger, distress, panic and high conflict more effectively. We can develop rapport with our clients and more readily defuse volatile situations. We can develop better ways of communicating, help people to express themselves more clearly and minimise the risk of inappropriate responses and over-reaction to provocative or challenging situations.

Gaining some understandings about ourselves

As professionals, gaining greater understanding about ourselves and the unconscious forces that shape how we function can have a significant importance for the way we work, how effective we are in what we do and the level of fulfilment that our work provides.

• For many people, having a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives and work is a luxury that they cannot necessarily afford – yet it is an important element of well-being. Reflection, understanding and self-awareness may help clarify what is important and how one’s work may perhaps be done or adapted to incorporate some element of this.

• Some people feel that they need to adopt a professional image or persona to reflect the way that they believe a professional should look and behave. Of course, clients or patients will have certain expectations of professional conduct but there are many ways to achieve this without compromising personal authenticity. Some reflective self-awareness, understandings and insights may help bring this into consciousness and help to achieve greater personal and professional authenticity.

• We need to understand more about our own personality, motivation and style so that we can work to our strengths. Perhaps we may need to bring greater balance into the relationship between our working lives and our personal and family lives.

• Cognitive dissonance theory, proposed in 1957 by social psychologist Leon Festinger, proposes that people are sensitive to inconsistencies between their beliefs and their actions, which causes dissonance that will result in their changing their beliefs, their actions or their perceptions of their actions, for example by rationalising them. An understanding of this and its implications may help us to cope better with such situations.

• Another issue that affects some people, even those who are highly regarded, is that they may experience huge levels of secret anxiety, may feel occasional panic, or may have a secret fear of failure, of “being found out”. Petrūska Clarkson refers in The Achilles Syndrome: Overcoming the Secret Fear of Failure to a mismatch between their abilities and their confidence.

This book will try to make some sense of the ways in which we can understand ourselves better and of our working lives and relationships.

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles.

If you know only yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.

If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

(From Sun Tzu’s classical sixth-century
Chinese treatise The Art of War)

What does the public expect from professionals?

Individual expectations may vary, but there are undoubtedly some common themes:

• In all cases, the common thread is undoubtedly that there has to be an acceptable level of qualification, skill, judgement and up-to-date expertise.

• Clients will expect personal conduct appropriate to the service provided, involving some form of professional demeanour (which does not imply excessive formality, but rather an appropriate way of relating to the client, even if this is informal).

• For traditional professionals, and in various other fields, there will generally be some kind of ethical and/or practice code and a regulatory body to whom complaints can be directed, which will have powers and sanctions to discipline the person and, in the most extreme failings, withdraw their right to work in that field.

• Professional relationships should embody mutual respect, with relevant communications and language. Some clients will expect the professional to maintain a professional distance, others may prefer the professional to be more like a friend.

• Invariably, clients will expect professionals to act and advise them responsibly in their best interests, understanding their needs and responding appropriately.

Professional and personal authenticity

This book will develop a number of themes to help the professional towards better relationships with clients and to function effectively and in a personally satisfying way. One of these themes will be the need for personal and professional authenticity; that is to say, practising one’s profession in a way that provides a genuinely good service to the client while also maintaining one’s own integrity and values.

In his book On Becoming a Person, psychotherapist Carl Rogers uses the term congruent to describe authenticity. It lies in being trustworthy, dependable or deeply consistent, not only in a practical sense, but also by being true to oneself. Rogers calls this being “dependably real”.

Professional authenticity may manifest itself in many ways. It involves genuineness in the services one provides, and for example in not pretending to a level of expertise that one does not have. This does not mean never stretching oneself or developing new skills, but rather being realistic and straightforward about what can be done. It involves practical matters such as doing effectively what one undertook to do, indicating when additional expertise is needed, and generally providing the expertise and skill that the client is entitled to expect. It also involves understanding the client’s concerns and needs and responding appropriately and honestly; dealing with clients in a way that is genuinely respectful and empathetic; and communicating clearly.

Clients will generally be able to detect authenticity – or otherwise. Professionals who can deal with and respond to their clients appropriately and authentically are likely to gain their trust and support. Those who do not may find it difficult to establish an effective relationship.

Personal and profe...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 On being a professional
• 2 Head, heart and gut: head – brain and mind
• 3 Head, heart and gut: heart – emotions
• 4 Head, heart and gut: gut – intuition
• 5 The hidden power of the unconscious
• 6 The amygdala hijack: triggers and strategies
• 7 Understanding personality
• 8 Empathy, attunement and professional boundaries
• 9 Professional relationships and expectations
• 10 Enhancing professional relationships: communication and other interpersonal skills
• 11 Balancing professional and systemic tensions
• 12 High conflict personalities
• 13 Difficult people
• 14 Uncertainty, risk and imperfection
• 15 Negotiation
• 16 Conflict and disputes: management and resolution
• 17 Beyond technique
• 18 Support needs and resources
• 19 Transitions and endings
• Bibliography
• Index