3. Threat tends to decrease awareness; mutual trust tends to increase awareness.
When we are anxious, it is hard to see things out in the world clearly –especially when we are viewing relationships with significant people in our life. When we are threatened, attention is primarily directed to the source of the threat and to the nature of the threat. We devote most of our energy to discerning the extent to which the source of the threat is aligned against our welfare and if it is active and strong. Other matters and other characteristics of the threatening source receive little attention. We care very little about the good side of the source, or about the potential lack of strength or resolve on the part of this source. There is only black and white.
Mutual trust must be based on a discerning assessment by each party of the other person’s competence, intentions and perspectives related to the interaction. Trust that is wrongly accessed can provoke lingering trauma and associated triggering of anxiety (that can further hinder accurate appraisal of future interactions).
Case Example: Kurt is participating in a session on intercultural sensitivity. This training is now required of all employees in his company. He is to attend a one day “tune up” program every six months. This program was introduced when Kurt’s US-based company acquired two other companies within an eight-month period of time. One of these companies is located in Mexico. The other is located in Indonesia.
This purchase has involved not only a rapid (and often stressful) expansion in the size and complexity of Kurt’s company but also the transfer of many Mexican and Indonesian employees to the home, American office. These “immigrants” are invited to learn about American operations (that they can bring back to their own home office). They are also being asked to share their own insights with C-Suite executives so that the merger can be as smooth as possible.
