Threat Detection

In my daily work of helping companies to adjust their workplace cultures, I principally deal in two dimensions.

The first is the system within which employees operate - its purpose, policies, procedures, artifacts, and traditions. Coaching all levels of the business to imagine and deliver change that makes more sense of daily work and enables easier collaboration.

The second dimension is agents of culture. Coaching the employees themselves to recognise the habitual behaviours that hold them back and stimulating them to develop better alternatives. Understanding the power of emotional intelligence is key here, and one of the questions we often debate is, ‘Are you seeing problems that aren’t there?’

That’s because people are naturally wired to focus on the negative. Imagine sending a message to those who know you well, asking them two simple questions: “What do you appreciate about me?” and “What’s one thing I could change to be more successful?”

Would you hesitate to hit ‘send’? Would you feel anxious about what they might say or, worse, what they might think? That second question might make you quite uncomfortable. What if they pointed out something you hadn’t noticed? And what would that mean about you? Then, when the responses came in, where would your attention go? To the negatives or the positives?

This kind of response isn’t unusual. It’s a reflection of how our brains are designed to detect threats. But in today’s world, how many of those threats are real?

The amygdala is the part of the brain responsible for detecting danger and triggering fight-flight-freeze responses. When something seems threatening, the amygdala can bypass rational thought and act on instinct. This is useful when facing the danger of a predator in the wild but less helpful when we misinterpret an everyday work situation as an existential threat.

Think of the last time someone asked you something, and you reacted defensively. Was it a real threat or just a perceived one? The mind’s impulse to protect often works against us, making us see problems that aren’t really there. That’s why, even in well-regulated organisations, most employees still harbour an ever-present fear of losing their job.

But, if you sent those two questions and received responses from people who know you well, you might be surprised how many responses were encouraging.  

Recognising our natural tendency to detect threats can help us to pause, reflect, and see situations for what they really are. There aren’t many lions in the modern workplace; a ‘movement in the long grass’ is often just the shadow of our own thoughts.