Scenario: Nerve hit

As an action learning coach, how would you handle the following situation: An extraordinarily deep question is asked. The responder sits quietly for a minute than begins to weep.

Tags: Action Learning, ActionLearning Coach, Team Coach, WIAL, WIAL Action Learning, WIAL Talk

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Comments (12)

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    Maja Klonowska

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    I would give the responder time and space to feel his/her emotions, with respect and trust to the person. When she/he was ready I would ask her/him what she/he want to do now.

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    Krist Kroopasa

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    I would respect and give the responder time to release his/her feeling for a while, observe team climate with eye contact. And when he/she was ready, I would ask he/she: do you comfort to continue the session now?

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    Alessandro Ribeiro

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    When we talk about development processes, it is natural that people are impacted by emotions and this can make them cry. As a coach, I would respect the silence, welcome his/her emotions and manage the situation to resume the focus of the process with questions like: What are you feeling? How would you like to proceed from that?

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    Mongkol Othavorn

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    As a coach, I will wait for 1-2 minutes. After that I would ask them, “Do you feel comfortable to answer this question? “How do you want to proceed?”; If they choose to change. I ask the team “we have member is not comfortable how the team decide next?

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    Christian Manlapaz

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    Let them calm down. When ready, ask what the tears was about and start an intervention.

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    Arturo Rocha

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    I would allow the emotion to be expressed then follow up by asking where the emotion is coming from and bring it to the team by asking how would they would like to move forward if the emotional team member is unable to answer the question .

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    Arturo Rocha

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    I would allow the emotion to be expressed then follow up by asking where the emotion is coming from and bring it to the team by asking how would they like to move forward if the emotional team member is unable to answer the question .

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    SOOK YEE YAP

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    I would give the person some time to weep. Pause and check the time. If time permits and she/he needs sometime to calm down, I would ask her/him for her/his decision if she/he would like to continue. Then i will also ask the team members for their opinion. As a coach I will also take note of the learning opportinuty for the problem presented and inform the team members on the time factor.

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    Agnieszka Sybicka

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    In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with crying, it relieves emotions, it is a natural reaction of the body. If the person who cries stops after a while, and the participants have given them space to experience emotions, I do nothing. Alternatively, I can name the situation: “I see that it was an important question for you and it’s ok that you have tears.” Can I also ask: “what you need?” or “maybe you need a handkerchief / break?” However, I know from experience that the participants can take care of this person and someone gives a handkerchief or the group pauses for a while, giving space for crying.

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    Elodie Schwartz

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    In that situation, I would give the responder some time to calm down and ask him/her if they feel comfortable continuing or not and if yes, if the responder feels like answering the question.
    I would also make an intervention, asking the team how they would like to move forward and depending on the question that triggered the strong emotional response, trying to redirect the question to other team members to allow the responder additional time to recover.

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    Dung Nguyen Thi Phuong

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    As a coach, I would ask the team what they should do in this situation. If the team needs time for the responder to calm down, I’ll give them a short period of time. I would ask the responder “How can the team help you get through that moment?” and confirm with the respondent if they feel comfortable answering the question.

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    YI-CHEN WU

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    I would ask PP
    “What kind of support do you need from the team?”
    after the supportive actions, I would ask the team
    “How did you observe?”
    “How can we support PP as a team in the following conversation?”

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