Abstract
Bridging boundaries across professions requires addressing the complex social issue of fear, an emotion that systemically shapes how clients, employees, students, patients, and organizations function. In environments marked by instability, shifting rules, and eroded trust, fear responses can quickly spread beyond individuals to paralyze entire projects or relationships. When people become frozen in fight, flight, or freeze responses, practitioners across disciplines face stalled progress, broken communication, and delayed decision-making. This workshop proposes an interactive exploration of strategies for navigating these moments of paralysis in organizational and professional contexts. Using a rapid two-round Delphi method within a 45-minute session, participants will surface and refine practical approaches that practitioners can use when their clients or stakeholders are immobilized by fear. The first round will invite participants to contribute their immediate strategies for re-engaging clients and restoring momentum. The second round will focus on consolidating these ideas, prioritizing those that are both feasible and ethically sound across diverse organizational settings. This session will also connect with similar Delphi inquiries being conducted in law, healthcare, and education, enabling comparison across practitioner domains. The goal is to create frameworks of strategies that can guide industry-specific professionals in addressing fear-based responses without coercion, escalation, or avoidance. By combining interdisciplinary perspectives with real-time consensus building, the session demonstrates how collaborative methods can bridge boundaries and transform fear into an opportunity for constructive solutions in an interconnected world.
Presenters
Michelle PreiksaitisFounder/CEO | Associate Professor, Doctoral Studies, Business & Communication, CORALS LLC | University of the Cumberlands, Florida, United States Mamie Todaro
Amanda Tanner
Assistant Professor, Robert W. Plaster Graduate School of Business, University of the Cumberlands, Kentucky, United States Margaret Dieringer
Contractor, Corporate Intelligence, MBO Partners contracted to PwC Talent Exchange, Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
FIGHT FLIGHT FREEZE, COLLABORATIVE PRACTITIONER STRATEGIES, CLIENT SUPPORT, DELPHI
