BlackApple Ltd

During 25 years of changing companies through projects, processes and coaching we quickly realised that the companies don't really count as much as the people who work there. So we not only offer help in changing people that work at companies to help them do the things they want to achieve at companies, but now we also offer a more focussed change service for individuals. 

Individual change is very powerful because it comes from you and not your manager and it can (and should) be about things you want. We've always worked with individuals (you can't meet with "IBM" only with people from IBM) but now we can focus one-on-one taking the time understand what you need to change to reach your goals.

Many of the underlying challanges in the business world are dealing with the anxieties, frustrations amd (mis) conceptions of the people we are doing business with (colleagues, suppliers, customers).

Since we are all "only human", our work and personal lives can often be frustrated by difficult events or persistent problems that come and go for years. 

Needing help to make sense of anxiety, intrusive thoughts, depression and other issues that result from being "only human" is incredibly common - what is less common is actually seeking help. 

Healthy resilient companies are staffed by healthy resilient employees. Without this resilience you may observe widespread anxiety, jealousy, defensiveness, counter-productive behaviours and poor communication: the perfect recipe for poor service.

We need to outgrow the patently wrong notion that we all "thrive on pressure" and consider how much happier and productive we would be if we addressed some of the fears and anxieties which underpin corporate behaviour, office politics and sickness/absence and staf turnover.

Talk to us personally or together with your company to learn more.

Abraham Maslow once said:
"When you own a hammer everything starts to look like a nail"

We see this time and time again with the desire to integrate functions within businesses by using all the applications from a single vendor or a fevered attempt to use all the features from a single product as though this sameness is inherently good.

I own an integrated knife, fork and screwdriver (a Swiss army knife) and yet I seem to choose to use separate knives and forks whenever I eat .. I wonder why that might be ..?

Jane is having a normal day at work when something suddenly goes wrong. No-one shouts, nothing catches fire and nothing visible has happened. For some reason Jane is suddenly anxious: her heart starts beating faster and she feels an uncomfortable churning in her stomach and doesn't seem to be able to concentrate or sit still. 

Sound Familar?

Something has caused her to start focussing on a problem at home and now she can't seem to get her mind off the problem and back onto her work. Unfortunately this is an extremely common problem and causes many off us to get knocked off track and into an unpleasnat spiral that can last for hours or longer.

What's happened?

We spend much of our time slowly trawling through the thoughts in our head, the images and sounds we are experiencing and categorising them for relevance importance, urgency and threat. This is what allows us to focus on something rather than be overwhelmed by the literally millions upon millions of stimulii that are around us and in our heads. This requires us to move our minds back in time (to review memories) and forward in time (to plan and estimate). Jane's problem starts because it turns out that it is very difficult to think about something without having the emotional reaction that goes with it: Try thinking about a favourite childhood christmas or summer holiday without a warm feeling or a smile. Equally negative memories often come with appropriate negative emotions such as guilt, regret plus whatever unpleasant things you were thinking at the time. Not much fun.

When we look forward to activities or challenges we do a kind of risk-assessment and this too can be postitive or negative depending on our viewpoint

Something in Jane's environment triggered her to think of a problem at home and suddenly her mind lurched out of the present (her work task) and into the future where she tries to predict the way the event at home will go and the kinds of emotions she expects to have when the future event happens. As she lurches back to memories of similar issues at home she gets a bad, anxious feeling and tries to suppress the memory (which makes it much more prevalent in her mind) and causes her to think more about the bad memory which is starting to look like an accurate prediction of the future for this similar situation.

It is normal and useful to think about how to prepare for future events but when we become anxious we tend to over-estimate the threat of things and situations around us. Jane has taken a single intense experience from her past and has used this as a yard-stick to estimate the threat of the future. Not a good way to deal with an unknown situation.

What can she do?

Jane would be helped to deal with her anxiety if she could do a number of things:

1) Recognise the thoughts she is having as just thoughts or theories

If I think I am the Prime Minister this is simply a thought - it certainly isn't true just because I can think it. This thought isn't even plausible.

2) Accept that whilst these thoughts are there as a safty mechanism to help you prepare for future situations it is YOU who decide what your reaction should be NOT a random stream of thoughts and "what-if"

If I think I could have a car accident driving home this is certainly more likely than me being the Prime Minister. It is however only a remote possibility and far from likely. It certainly isn't a reason to behave any differently than at any other time when you are driving normally and safely.

3) That supression/control may not be as effective as acceptance and learning to be in the moment 

If I can recognise my anxious thoughts (perhaps even name them) I will more able to let them wash over me without feeling driven to behave as though they were true. If your anxious thoughts WERE true then, of course your anxious behaviour would be completely appropriate, however unless you have purchased a working crystal ball it is unlikely that you can KNOW exactly how a future situation is going to play out. It is better to give your attention to the task you are performing in the moment and then give your attention to the situation at home when you get there.

There are several techniques using Cognitive Therapy, Hypnosis and Coaching which can help Jane to do this and get more done and be less anxious.