Affect and Effect: Managing Emotions Matters
While not my usual area of focus, psychology is a discipline I have studied quite a bit and for which I have the utmost respect. Further, I am convinced that my attention to managing not just performance but behaviors and attitudes has had a marked positive effect on my career (not to mention on my personal and professional relationships). A recent article discussing a paper by Sigal Barsade, a professor of Management at Wharton, served to validate and reinforce what I’ve already known: that emotions in the workplace can have a marked impact on job performance, creativity and teamwork, among other things. I think it would do any manager - no, any thinking and motivated member of an organization at any level - well to read the article and to consider its important message. Pay attention to the verbal and non-verbal cues of those around you. They are telling you something. Listen. And listen well.
Here are some particularly interesting and insightful extracts from Professor Barsade’s article:
You know the type: coworkers who never have anything positive to say,
whether at the weekly staff meeting or in the cafeteria line. They can
suck the energy from a brainstorming session with a few choice
comments. Their bad mood frequently puts others in one, too. Their
negativity can contaminate even good news. “We engage in emotional
contagion,” says Sigal Barsade, a Wharton management professor who
studies the influence of emotions on the workplace. “Emotions travel
from person to person like a virus.”********************
“The state of the literature shows that affect matters because people
are not isolated ‘emotional islands.’ Rather, they bring all of
themselves to work, including their traits, moods and emotions, and
their affective experiences and expressions influence others,”
according to the paper, co-authored by Donald Gibson of Fairfield
University’s Dolan School of Business.********************
The researchers’ paper discusses a concept known as “emotional labor,”
in which employees regulate their public displays of emotion to comply
with certain expectations. Part of this is “surface acting,” in which,
for instance, the tired and stressed airline customer service agent
forces himself to smile and be friendly with angry customers who have
lost their luggage. That compares to “deep acting,” in which employees
exhibit emotions they have worked on feeling. In that scenario, the
stressed-out airline worker sympathizes with the customer and shows
emotions that suggest empathy. The second approach may be healthier,
Barsade says, because it causes less stress and burnout, particularly
emotional exhaustion from having to regulate one’s emotions and “play a
role.”********************
“The idea behind emotional intelligence in the workplace is that it is
a skill through which employees treat emotions as valuable data in
navigating a situation,” according to the authors.********************
The paper cites a study showing that people tend to be overconfident
about their ability to convey the emotion they wish in an e-mail,
particularly when they are trying to be funny or sarcastic. “Video
conferencing, also increasing in its use, has more cues, but it is also
not yet the same as interacting face to face, particularly in group
situations. Given that these technologies continue to grow as a primary
means of communication within the business world, it is crucial that we
understand how the interpretation and communication of affect occurs in
these contexts,” the paper says.Workplaces need to get smart about the best use of e-mail, Barsade
states. Her advice is that “if something is important, and you know
that the emotional context is going to be an issue, then pick up the
phone; don’t just rely on e-mails.” And even the phone may not be good
enough. “Sometimes, if it is really important, you just have to fly to
where they are and meet them face-to-face to get the message across.”
This is serious stuff, friends, and not easy to be sure. Isn’t it easier to be on “auto pilot” and simply do and act the way you instinctively feel? Well, not necessarily, especially given the inter-connectedness of complex organizations. As it mentions above, people aren’t islands, and the moods, feelings and emotions of a single person in an organization is like a pebble dropping in the still lake, sending ripples far beyond their immediate sphere of influence. I think this same metaphor applies in the blogosphere, where a particular meme can get picked up and rapidly disseminated across seemingly disconnected circles of influence. An employee with a toxic attitude and a few friends can get a very dangerous ball rolling, one that needs to be quickly - and decisively - addressed.
But, more importantly, healthy attitudes towards communication and collaboration need to be embedded in the culture of an organization, lest senior management be in a constant state of dealing with crises due to bad behaviors arising from poor culture. Cultures where people aren’t listened to. Cultures where people don’t clearly understand their roles. Cultures where people aren’t on the same page strategy-wise. This is a tone that needs to be set at the top and bought into up and down the organization. Otherwise, the road to success will be rocky, painful, and elusive.
