|
Sustaining the Journey Archive
|
|
|
March 1, 2010
Labeling Emotions and the Brain
The Cognitive CoachingSM tool that begins the Problem-Resolving Map is called the
Pace, and it consists of 4 steps:
- naming the coachee's emotion (empathy),
- summarizing the content of the coachee's concerns (content—coachee signs off),
- reflecting a desired state of the coachee (goal), and
- signaling a transition to the internal resources of the coachee (pathway).
In actuality, it might sound something like this:
You're concerned (empathy) because the work of your team seems stalled (content). And
what you want is to have momentum toward meaningful outcomes (goal). And you're looking for a
way to make that happen.
The intention of the coach in only paraphrasing is to assist the coachee to create a resourceful
state of cognition. When a person is highly emotional, the limbic system dominates and short-circuits
capacity in the prefrontal cortex, where reasoning and understanding occur. Neuroscientific research
has found value in labeling emotions using language to increase the cognition of the coachee.
The paraphrase and labeling of emotion appear to decrease limbic activity. The coach is using
understanding of the brain functions to create a resourceful state.
Having this knowledge reminds Cognitive Coaches to default to paraphrase in stressful situations,
being certain to label emotions until BMIRS are observed. When coaches have a rich repertoire
of vocabulary for emotion words, they are well equipped to increase thinking in colleagues and
decrease the emotional flood by the limbic system.
Listen for opportunities to use the pace in your work this week. Practice a variety of emotion
words in order to increase your repertoire. Pay attention to the effects of labeling the emotion
for the coachee's resourcefulness.
Lieberman, M., & Eisenber, N. "The pains and pleasures of
social life." NeuroLeadership Journal, Issue 1 2008, pp.38-43.
|
