Emotions in the Workplace 🥹
Feelings are an important part of building a strong, conscious team
For many leaders in the modern workplace, logic and rationality are considered the keys to success. After all, it’s data and analytics that give us the information we need to continually improve, right? There is a perception that neither emotion nor feelings help us fix business problems. Author and commentator Ben Shapiro once tweeted a quote that perfectly captures this belief: “Facts don’t care about your feelings.”
The problem with this belief is that it completely undermines authentic, influential leadership. Leading ourselves and others means we must account for emotion and feeling. We don’t work with robots; we work with human beings who are mostly driven by emotion rather than facts.
The rational mind is an important part of how we lead effectively. But what if we compared overusing the mind to over-exercising one part of our body? If you only focus on your legs, your upper body won’t be equitable in strength. It’s important to give attention to all parts of your body in exercise so you’re balanced. It’s the same with emotions and our heart; we need to balance the rational intellect with the emotional heart.
Have you ever tried being solely rational with your partner, kids, or friends? Were you able to have the interaction, connection, and outcome you desired? Probably not. Because humans connect on an emotional level.
The interesting thing about leadership is that while hard skills, intellect, and rationality are essential attributes, they are not effective in leading other humans. In fact, when employees are surveyed about the qualities they most admire and look for in leaders, it’s the soft skills that matter most: humility, trust, empathy.
The cornerstone to building a strong team is establishing trust. And trust is an emotion. So are loyalty, passion, and inspiration. These are the soft skills that move a team from good to great. Without emotion, a leader and their team can be perceived as insensitive, arrogant, lacking empathy, and viewing others as an intellectual problem to be “fixed”.
Shirzad Chamine, coach and author of Positive Intelligence1 observes, “Unless people feel their emotions heard and responded to, they’re not willing to hear what you have to say. So whatever brilliant solution you have is not going to be received and acknowledged and done because people don’t feel seen, connected, and heard.”
The mind is a critical asset and tool for success. But as a conscious leader, you need to have more than just one tool in your toolbox. The secret to success is knowing when to utilize each tool. For some situations, like reviewing budgets, the rational mind tool is best. When helping a team member understand the importance of a company goal, the emotional tool of inspiration would be more effective.
Some people believe that emotion has no place in the workplace. But to deny emotion is to deny our humanity. The answer is to understand how to tap into emotion effectively. Emotions are a powerful indicator of what we’re thinking. If you feel angry about an interaction with a colleague, it indicates you have a thought or perception that needs to be addressed so you can improve yourself.
I often call emotions the canary in the coal mine: they indicate something deeper is going on that we need to address so we can perform at the level we aspire to and have the types of relationships we desire. This week, consider how well you balance intellect with emotion. When is it better to lean into emotion? Together, conscious leaders can change the perception about emotion in the workplace.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
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The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
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The inspiration for this week’s newsletter came from Shirzad’s Positive Intelligence coaching course I’m currently enrolled in. I’ll be sharing more about what I’m learning about internal saboteurs in future newsletters.