Humans have emotions
It is not about emotionalism, it is more to build the capacity to understand which emotions are blockers and which emotions are enablers. It is about to understand how emotions affect our business decisions.
Emotions in business are important, emotions have a huge impact on business decisions and human relationships. However talking about emotions is often treated as a weakness or as an exposure. The reality is…we are all humans. Humans have emotions and emotions are important – they are telling us about our needs. Thanks to these emotions, we can survive and we can be involved in complex relations. So avoiding the emotional bit can make things harder; It makes it much more difficult to understand each other and build report.
What I’m offering here, is to talk about the emotions of team members and how to take these emotions into account. It is not about emotionalism (the tendency to be emotional, to show emotion quickly and easily or to appeal to strong emotions), it is more to build the capacity to understand which emotions are blockers and which emotions are enablers. It is about to understand how emotions affect our business decisions.
There is one key aspect of this which needs to be considered: Psychological Safety. If there is a lack of psychological safety, people will not be inclined to talk about emotions. Talking about emotions requires trust, and once trust is broken, it can never be restored.
Emotions in a business
I sometimes work with sales teams/salespeople where I support them through a cultural transition to become sales consultants. Often, there is no progress available without good awareness of emotions and without the capability to deal with emotions. Avoiding this aspect often brings strong, negative consequences for people.
If you’re not familiar with the sales world – have a look at the current circumstances, where people are returning to work after being furloughed: a lot of them are afraid for their safety, worried about the future and wondering what their work-life will be like. Some people can also have strong positive emotions: they may be excited to go back to work or looking forward to being around people again.
These emotions will follow them and will influence their decisions, behaviours, etc.
Furthermore, the perception of the reality can be can be very distant from the objective reality due to emotions. What really matters here, the emotions will affect their behaviors and their approach to the company. So, ability of managers and team members to talk about emotions, to deal with emotions is a crucial skill that contributes directly to survival and to grow in an uncertain time.
There is one key aspect of this which needs to be considered: Psychological Safety. If there is a lack of psychological safety, people will not be inclined to talk about emotions. Talking about emotions requires trust, and once trust is broken, it can never be restored.
I would like to share a case study from my work where I assisted with a cultural’s change of one of the sales teams I helped. Please watch the video:
Once we are able to face emotions and recognise them, the space to work with these emotions begins. The work with emotions influences/shapes attitudes. The team learned to talk about feelings, learned that there is nothing wrong with speaking honestly about emotions, started being aware of the impact of emotions on their job and learned that they are similar in this sense (they have very similar challenges to face). They and their manager could start to talk about solutions to ensure people in a team will able to grow and flourish.
For the next weeks, I will be publishing a weekly article and a video about a value which can contribute to strong, more adaptable and innovation-boosting company’s culture. I will share case studies and examples, to illustrate how these values can help you build a better culture for your company. Subscribe now to avoid missing an update!
