Sylvia's Journal

Today I did little from my to do list and much impromptu coaching, something I like to do – mentoring younger staff how to be more effective in their jobs.

We worked on the upcoming leadership program for the midwives. Going over the facilitation notes, line by line, I helped M and S get ready for their facilitation task in this second of four workshops that will take place next week. It is the most challenging workshop to lead. They are throwing themselves enthusiastically into the deep end of the facilitator pool while I will be cheering them on from the sidelines, trying to understand as much of the Dari as I can, dictionary in hand. Brainy work for all of us.

Later in the day, with some other staff, we strategized how to contain the ripples of a confrontation inside one of the general directorates that we work with. We are getting mixed up in internal disagreements about procedures that make it hard for us to get our work done.

And then there was a textbook case of an email sequence that had spun out of control leaving people angry and undermining the very thing the people sending the emails had hoped to accomplish. It was full of examples of imprecise language, various interpretations of the same text and examples of the reptilian brain trumping more rational thought that would have considered consequences of actions.

I have seen a few examples over my 17 months here of reptilian brains in action at very close range (and further afield in daily newscasts, both here in Afghanistan and in the Arab rage countries). I explained to B how to recognize the tell tale signs of the reptile, the increased heart rate, the sweaty palms, the urge to fight or flee, so that next time she can recognize them and push decision making back to where it belongs in the frontal lobe. Maybe it’s time for a staff session on emotional intelligence.