Archive for March, 2012

Discover why Anger Management is all the Rage

Posted in conflict resolution, managing violence & aggression on March 25th, 2012 by Chris – Be the first to comment

It’ no surprise that with the current economic climate that people are becoming more and more angry.

Let’s face it we all have a right to be angry at the moment.

Who is not angry with the banks for bringing the world economy to its knees? with our Local Authorities cutting services, and of course we have the expenses scandal and the newspapers taping our phones and invading our privacy.

People have every right to be angry but what they don’t have is a right to be hostile and abusive towards others.

Anger in the workplace:

With the current government cut backs many employees are experiencing increased workloads, are having extra duties placed upon them, their pay frozen or cut all of which can lead to increased stress levels.

Psychologists have identified three different types of personality

Type A: These individuals are aggressive, impatient, competitive, hit the roof if they have to stand in a queue or some-one has the audacity to be a few minutes late for a meeting with them.

These individuals appear to be completely stressed out and rushing around but not really getting very far.

Who remembers the actor John Cleese’s in Fawlty Towers demonstrating a perfect example of the above

Type B: These individuals are the total opposite to the above as they always appear to be calm and relaxed even in a crisis they are able to rationalise the situation and make those around them feel completely at ease.

Again going back to the TV Bobby Ewan in the famous sit com Dallas typified the type 2

constantly staying calm and rational whist battling with his type A brother JR always, Bobby always trying to do what is right and fair for every-one and rarely getting emotional.

Type C: Tend to bottle up their emotions and if challenged will usually total deny that there is anything wrong.

This type is often the most difficult to deal with as they can explode on you without warning.

In conflict resolution training we talk about the pre-attack triggers, Warning & Danger signs and the importance of identifying and responding appropriately to these signals to diffuse and prevent escalation.

Type C’s are often experts at hiding their emotions and don’t need to be triggered as they are already there waiting to move onto the next stage of the assault cycle escalation in many cases this is compounded by the fact that the person they eventually explode on is not the person they are angry with but some innocent bystander who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

How many times have you watched the news on the television about some tragedy involving some-one going on a killing spree shooting neighbours, relatives, colleagues, or total strangers and you hear people who knew them being interviewed saying things like they were perfect neighbours, friends or colleagues very quiet, kept themselves to themselves etc.

Examples of the above include the Hungerford disaster (Michael Ryan), Dunblane Massacre: (Thomas Hamilton), Kimbra Taxi driver (Derrick Bird) and Raoul Moat who taunted Northumberland police prior to taking his own life.

The perfect solution for the workplace is to only employ type B’s if you want to have a safe and enjoyable place to work, but reality is not like that.

I suspect most people reading this like myself have worked with both type A’s & type C’s

These individuals if not checked are a burden to both others and themselves.

Attending a good Conflict Resolution training course will help staff identify types A & C.

Conflict resolution training will also give staff the necessary tool kit they need to identify the triggers, the Warning & Danger signs enabling them to apply the appropriate diffusion strategies.

Types A & C could also benefit from conflict resolution training and benefit further by attending a Stress Management training course

Brooks Jordan Training Services training provide training on both Conflict Resolution, Stress Management and a host of Corporate Management training programmes.

For more information please visit our web site http://www.brooksjordan.co.uk