The Coronavirus Pandemic is Turning us into Street Fighters: Are you ready to Rumble?

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted us all in many ways; few of them positive. As a dispute resolver I have observed that an area in which the pandemic has adversely affected many, is in conflict management and dispute resolution.

Factors like common sense and rational thought can be longer be relied upon in the “new” normal. People are more eager to enter the fray, to stand their ground and to give no quarter. There may be a natural explanation for this. In times of great adversity, when we feel under threat, there is primeval predisposition to show strength and to display dominance. There is an instinctual fear that showing any sign of weakness might make us vulnerable.

Even those senior professionals, managers and CEO’s that previously relied on their abilities to think logically and to make rational decisions, are fighting a losing battle against their ancient reptilian instincts. This is no time to play nice, accept fault and negotiate terms. Decision makers are becoming aggressive and combative in their mindset.

As businesses hemorrhage jobs, employees feel the need to demonstrate their ‘killer’ instinct. They want to show that they have the backbone to fight, even when the evidence, the circumstances and wisdom, implore otherwise.

The unfortunate truth is that rather than do any good, these behaviors are having a devastating effect on many people and companies. For most, fighting does not come naturally. The stress and anxiety that it brings wears people down from the inside. Even when we experience the primordial urge of fight over flight, it weighs heavily on many. The personal cost is high.

When we can no longer apply fairness and levelheadedness to address conflict, our intellectual capacity fails us, and we act with animalistic abandon. Leaders, directors, managers and principals need to be alert to these factors. The sooner they are recognized the better the chance to overcome these basic instincts, which evolved in an age long past to help us survive in a world before we were intelligent enough to use rational thought.

Think, rely on facts and remember how you made decisions in 2019.