Violence and Silence

Everyone responds to emotionally charged statements, when there are high stakes involved and opposing opinions, in two ways: violence and silence. You know these responses by their old-school terms describing how we respond to danger: fight and flight. It's the same.

In conversation, the violence or silence can take different forms than actual fisticuffs or hoofing it into a different part of the building. It might be sarcasm, raised voices, passive agreement, capitulation, political maneuvering, etc. According to Grenny, when it matters most, we tend to do our worst.

To overcome the adrenaline-based responses, we need to rebuild trust. People negatively respond more because of WHY they think you're stating your position than to WHAT you're stating. Reaffirm mutual purpose and then reaffirm mutual respect. Go. You have 30 seconds to accomplish this.

You can do it.