Where we may normally struggle a little in getting our point across advocating for users and our true intentions for the success of the business heard, stress adds an extra layer of complication making it even harder to manage those complex stakeholder relationships and emotions.
Suddenly, we are being misunderstood and perceived as negative and not supporting the success of the project no matter how many times we repeat what we’re trying to communicate in different ways.
We also are misunderstanding others and are unable to reach a point where both parties feel they have truly been heard–often leading to shouting matches or endless talking over each other resulting in frustration and potential interpersonal issues.
These types of negative interactions can affect our ability to build our spheres of influence and speak from a user experience and product design perspective at high levels of the company.
It is quite ironic that in situations where we often need to have more clear communication and understanding than in “normal” conditions, we often are inept or ill-prepared to achieve that higher level of effective communication.
There are several key elements involved in the death of our communication skills we need to understand and define before we dive into why stress is such a sneaky and skilled killer.
According to the National Institutes of Health, stress is “a physical and emotional reaction that people experience as they encounter challenges in life.”
Think deer in the headlights or hot in the face.