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What is meant by 'Trauma Informed' in a business context? And how do we work with the language of 'Trauma' when 'trauma' doesn't appear to have a direct correlation to business but is fundamentally tied to every aspect of it?
First, how did we get to this thing called Trauma-Informed Business Growth?
Advancements in neuroscience since 2018 have contributed enormously to the language of ‘Trauma-Informed’ moving deeper into the mainstream.
We can now touch and analyse the lingering effects of stress on the brain-body on par with how a stroke leaves a lesion on the brain.
We know that the lingering effects of unresolved, (now forgotten), past stress, leads to Complex-Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (c-PTSD) for 1 in 3 of us.
Breaking this language down:
The word COMPLEX in C-PTSD is used to represent that this chronic stress is 'interpersonal'. It arises from prolonged interpersonal interactions which are inherently multifaceted and intricate.
Consider that the word TRAUMA is used to represent the long list of negative physiological affects that interpersonal stress has on the brain and body
Complex Trauma will give rise to C-PTSD later on for every 1 in 3 people who experience Complex Trauma. C-PTSD will exist entirely outside of one's awareness until brought to their attention.
Interesting Stats to ponder today:
33% of the workforce is Highly Functioning, Secretly-in-Despair
50% of overachievers are outrunning a past leading their sprint.
72% of Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs admit to having at least one mental health disorder
Trauma-Informed Business Growth is leveraging the Brain-Body-Mind-Business approach, to Business Growth
To be Trauma-Informed in Business is to have cultivated an understanding of how to leverage the Brain-Body-Mind-Business approach to Business Growth, as opposed to being an unknown prisoner of it.
We are well aware of the Mind-Business tools. However, the tools for Brain-Body are less known.
These tools tend to be non-verbal as thoughts and words have little effect on a dysregulated physiology. Yet a dysregulated physiology is the dominant influence on thoughts and words and has a negative influence on: the input and output across the entire business, including:
Decision-Making
Strategy Design and Planning
Creativity and Creative Problem Solving
Productivity and Performance
Interpersonal Relations
Talent Management Costs
Reputational Exposure
Conflict Resolution
Change Management
Toxic Leaders, Toxic Teams, Toxic Cultures
'Trauma-Informed' is a refined awareness of how the dysregulated brain-body shows up at work. while possessing the Brain-Body-Mind-Business' skills and resources so as to intervene when those moments arise, and proactively mitigate their effect in the future.
Trauma-Informed Business Growth Looks Like: Clarity, Focus, Action, Self-Regulation, Momentum
An easy and common example, 'Being Seen Has The Person In Hiding'
The person knows how to show up online, present a keynote or deliver a workshop. This is cognitive based knowledge that is widely available.
However, for the person moving closer to the 'moment of truth', their physiology is working against them.
Their body's stress response has become dysregulated, flooding their systems with stress hormones, heightened anxiety, and fear, real or imagined. Their body is in direct opposition with their mind, and cannot be resolved through thoughts or cognitive reframing alone.
The person can force the delivery by using coping strategies that further compounds the dysegulation in brain and body, and compromises their delivery, or the person can leverage a brain-body-mind-business approach to resolve the internal conflict that leaves the person with; more growth, more flow and a keynote that captivates an audience.
Dysregulation can feel like the Mind being willing and ready, while the Brain-Body is locked into refusal.
I am excited to share the Brain-Body-Mind-Business approach to Business Growth in the coming weeks. After a lifetime operating exclusively inside Mind-Business only, I'm 3 years into the deliberate use of Brain-Body-Mind-Business - and still getting used to the change and transformation and shift in reality that I have from working with the Brain-Body side of the equation. It has quite literally made all the difference.
If this topic is of particular interest to you, you may find some useful material over on my podcast over at www.traumainformedgrowth.life