How I Use Psychology In Information Technology

When people find out that I have a Masters in Counseling Psychology (Ed Psych, Community Counseling Focus at the graduate school I attended. I also have a certificate in Trauma Counseling), they will usually ask me if or how I use my psychology knowledge or training in my work as an IT consultant. The answer is, yes, that I actually do, and at times, in some very particular ways.

One example of how I use my training is in emotionally charged or high-pressure situations. As a counselor, you are trained to separate the client's process, your internal process, and the demands of the situation. When working with client's in times of high stress - which the failure of a tool to perform their job can trigger - their anger and frustration at the situation may be directed at me, occaisionally in some very extreme ways. It has been said about me in these situations that I don't let my ego interfere, and I believe it is because I separate who I am from the client's process. They may have a need or want to vent uncontrollably at that time. That fact does not require me to react in kind, or actually, to react at all. How I react is then my choice. The situation and the needs to attain the client's goal, which I am dedicated to by virtue of my position, is the most important thing, so I focus on that. The personality issues, as they arise, can be attended to, or set aside to deal with at a more appropriate time. So my focus is on the task at hand, the goal, and the satisfaction of that goal. When I talked with a business owner about bringing in someone else to be a buffer and put a "nicer face" on what I do, he responded, "You do what you do, you get it done, what is the nicer face?" Speaks volumes.

So, if you are interested, and so inclined from your personality, you are inclined to think, "great, but how to I apply it to my life?" Well, the answer is, you have the power to apply it yourself. The first step is to understand each situation as three things: 1) your process, 2) the situation, and 3) the other person's process. This is actually a functional adaptation of Field Theory (but you don't need to know that). The first step is to see that the situation, and your reaction to it, are two entirely separate things. One does not equal the other. Gloss it up or dress it down, I'm sure you can come up with examples of how you reacted differently to very similar situations. The truth between the two is that you were more capable (by choice, perhaps?) to deal with one differently than the other. In those situations, you allowed your process to be affected moreso than the other.

Similarly, you are likely to be able to come up with situations where one person's reaction to a situation has affected you differently than another persons'. Some of this is natural, but some of it is by choice. One person's process may dictate that they react in a particular way to a situation. Your choice is the degree of impact it has on your process - and your sense of reason - as a result.

If you have difficulty with this I have two ideas: 1) one of the essences of Zen Buddhism is being able to separate oneself from the world and understand the true nature of things. This is not something that you just do. It takes time and practice. 2) You may be invested in reacting in some ways, or you may be conditioned to reacting in those ways because they get the results that you are looking for. The question then becomes, "if you reacted differently, could you achieve the same, or even better, results?"