The sensory brain (aka. reptillian brain) is concerned with those unconscious, knee-jerk responses to environmental sensory stimuli. Sensory preferences are also vastly different, and so strongly and primitively driven, that conflict between opposite sensory styles is something we have to equip ourselves to deal with.
Therefore, at a practical level, the potential sensory conflict pitfalls amongst teams are endless and can be categorised according to the sensory systems:
Visual: too much or too little detail, not getting to the bottom line or getting to the bottom line too fast, errors being overlooked or being too pedantic around accuracy, messy workspaces or perfectly neat workspaces, ‘wrong’ colours, bullet point styles or detailed paragraphs, etc.
Auditory: laughing or chatting too loudly or not laughing or chatting enough, using a headset or not using a headset, taking calls in an open-plan space or taking calls outside, turning the music up or turning the music down, low tolerance for shared spaces or high tolerance for shared spaces, etc.
Touch: too affectionate or too ‘cold’, standing too close or too far away, choosing isolated workspaces or crowding someone’s space, too relaxed around hygiene or too much of a germ phobe, uncomfortable in clothes or too comfortable in clothes, finding group work and offsites exhausting or finding these unmissable and too invigorating, minimalism vs trinkets, etc.
Smell and Taste: picky eating or adventurous eating, similar lunch spot or new lunch spot, familiar recipes or exotic recipes, smelly lunch boxes or no lunch boxes, chewing all the time or not eating at all, too much perfume or too little perfume, brushing teeth 3x a day or forgetting to brush teeth, etc.
Movement: too fidgety or too passive, too active or too lethargic, too on-the-go or too difficult to mobilize, too energetic or too calm, driving too fast or driving too slow, running up stairs or taking the lift, walking fast or walking slow, never behind desk or never nòt behind desk, etc.
As soon as sensory styles are identified and understood, we can build empathy and awareness, iron out conflict, and love on our sensory diverse colleagues this Valentine’s month.
What was previously perceived to be a ‘tricky’ work relationship, may very well be nothing more than a difference in sensory styles – what a reassuring thought this February!
#sensorystyles#sensoryconflicthandling#sensorydiverse#teamcohesion#teamwork
