Know Your Tuning

WHAT:
                       This week during lecture, we discussed the idea that everyone person is “tuned” by his or her surroundings one way or another. Understanding how you are tuned as an individual may help explain why you tend to react different ways in different situations. People are tuned a certain way as a result of a combination of different things: childhood experiences, cultural background, gender, and values. I have decided to try to figure out my personal tuning for the subject of this blog post.
                        I found that understanding my triggers was extremely helpful in determining my personal tuning. Triggers are sharp experiences evoking something inside you that completely dominate the present moment. In Chapter 15 of Adaptive Leadership, Heifetz describes triggers as the stimuli that cause your defense mechanisms to kick in, generated by fear and fueled with adrenaline. Understanding what actions trigger your defense mechanisms is an important part of adaptive leadership. 

SO WHAT:
                       After delving farther into determining my triggers, I found that people questioning

my ability to complete certain tasks automatically causes my defense mechanisms to kick in. I become immediately obsessed with proving myself to them, which at times can be detrimental to myself, or others around me. I also found that arrogance of any kind evokes my defense mechanisms. I am extremely bothered when I feel as though someone is making someone else feel as though they are inferior in any way. This triggers me to immediately make the victim’s problems my own and resort to irrational actions. 

NOW WHAT:
                       I think that having a clear understanding of what your triggers are and how they affect you can be very beneficial in everyday life. I can now channel the emotions evoked by my triggers to a more positive solution, rather than the reactions I described before. In addition, being able to control your triggers is a very important part of leading adaptive interventions. If someone understands that they are triggered by conflict, they can anticipate these triggers and act in a more productive way, benefiting everyone involved.