The Importance of Rapport in Reducing Stress at the Workplace
With Verbal First Aid (starting with a solid rapport) you can use words to diffuse a situation and therefore relieve the stress and forestall future trauma.
For example, someone at the next desk stands up too quickly, hits her head on the sharp corner of the metal filing cabinet and falls to the floor. She is angry, embarrassed and bleeding.
The manager sees it and goes right to her. If she seems seriously injured, he makes the call to 911 or to the nurse on call if there is one. Once the manager has assessed the urgency of the situation and responded accordingly, what does he say?
The first thing he does if he knows Verbal First Aid is let his employee know that he is there FOR her. Unless there is a unique bond between them and a long-standing, non-work related relationship, humor is inappropriate. His approach should be direct, compassionate and take-charge, particularly if she is badly hurt.
"Susan, I saw that and I'm right here. I've called the nurse. He's on his way. The worst is over."
"Damn it," Susan mutters and sees that there's blood dripping down onto her shirt. "Damn it!" She starts to appear pale.
"I can imagine how you feel...I banged my toe on a door and wanted to take it off its hinges with my other foot." (This is called "pacing", a technique in which a manager would match her behavioral and emotional state by being present with her in her discomfort, her anger and her fear, without rushing to try and cheer her up or dismiss her pain.)
This rapport can't be manufactured. Intention always manifests. So, if you're doing it to manipulate, it will be transparent. Rapport is born of real concern and real understanding.
Delivering Suggestion for Healing
One way to deliver suggestion is to use story telling. Once rapport is established, you can simply tell her a story of someone you know who had a cut like this and stopped bleeding within minutes. Often, just the suggestion works, because in a stressful situation the person is in an altered state and you are the authority figure.
If there is pain, a technique that is terribly useful is distraction. If the injured party complains of discomfort, you can direct her attention elsewhere--specifically to places in her body that are uninjured.
For example, you can say: "I can see that your head needs attention. Would you take your mind down through your body and see if there's anyplace else that needs attention?"
You might point to an uninjured part and say, "How about over here? How does it feel over here?" Not only does the change of focus provide pain relief (because the mind is only capable of processing one thing at a time), but now she takes note of the fact that there are parts of her that are still all right. And in your presence she feels a little better, so she trusts you to give her other helpful suggestions.
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