Organizational Leadership: How to manage emotions in the workplace

It used to be taboo for leaders to talk about emotions with their team in the workplace. But, at a time when our society is steeped in conversations about mental health and well being, and as it has been proven that they play a significant role in a teams’ performance, emotions in the workplace are slowing, yet finally, being given the recognition they deserve. In fact, to manage emotions in the workplace is becoming an essential skill in organizational leadership. 

If you’re interested in organizational leadership, you shouldn’t shy away from experiencing emotions at work and talking about them. We all have good days, and we all have some not so good days. Organizational leaders understand this and lead in a way that encourages emotions to be used productively and effectively.

In this article, I’m going to explain how emotions affect the performance of teams and in which ways organizational leadership can help leaders to embrace emotions, accept them at work, and even use them in their favor. 

What is Organizational Leadership?

Organizational leadership is a management technique in which leaders align teams so that all members share the same vision, mission, and goals. Organizational leaders are often successful at motivating individuals to effectively carry out particular tasks within their scope of expertise so that when all these small victories are put together, the major team goal is achieved.

Organizational leadership has two main focuses: the organization as a whole, and each team member contributing to the whole. According to South New Hampshire University, it is a leadership style in which you consider the overall goals of the company, and then use those goals to encourage the success of each member of the team as an individual. 

This leadership approach goes hand in hand with emotions, as you can’t correctly motivate an individual while simultaneously ignoring his or her needs. Organizational leaders get to know each member of their team, meaning that they know in their story, their dreams and where they want to go professionally. Only by showing genuine interest in them as individuals, leaders will discover the keys to motivate them daily. So, when we talk about organizational leadership, we refer to an approach that is both: goal-oriented and relationship-focused.

How emotions affect performance

Humans are multi-faceted and exist in multiple domains. As a leader, it is silly to pretend that your emotions and the emotions of your team don't have an effect on work and productivity levels. 

In the same way that you are more than just your work title, your employees are more than only employees. We are all members of society, our families, our friend groups, and these areas of our lives can sometimes bleed into our work life. Organizational leadership is about understanding this fact and embracing it. As an organizational leader, you can’t fight against the realities of emotions at work, but instead, learn to use them in a constructive and productive way.

OAR Model of Ontological Coaching

The OAR Model of Ontological Coaching explains how the way we view the world affects our actions. Primarily, our emotions, body, and language come together to uniquely impact the way we view the world. That view then directly influences our actions and behaviors, and in turn, our actions and behaviors lead to our results. 

Recognizing and embracing our emotions will provide us with the knowledge to act, or not act, in a certain way. Organizational leadership takes into account the idea that members of a team can’t perform at their peak under certain emotional states, and it acknowledges that this is okay. 

Head vs. Heart View

In our culture, we’re encouraged to think solely from a rational point of view at work. But organizational leaders understand that their teams are human and not robots and that in fact, emotional thinking can, at times be beneficial as it helps us determine what is essential and what is not. Utilizing a heart-view instead of a head-view can also help us with intuition when we have to make a hard decision. 

Tips for managing emotions in the workplace

I believe that there is no such thing as good or bad emotions. Instead, there are only negative and positive emotions, and the decision of what to do with them. Organizational leaders understand how each particular emotion affects an individual and knows how to replace a negative emotion with a positive one. 

Proactivity

As I have mentioned in my blog post “3 Habits Of Effective Leaders”, being proactive is a significant asset to guide a team in the right direction. When negative or positive emotions begin to affect productivity, organizational leaders must figure out a way to turn the emotion into something proactive.

It may not be possible to choose our emotions, but it is possible to choose what we do with them. Organizational leaders encourage the best possible outcome - whether that means taking a break, reassigning a project, or even changing plans completely. 

Heart Rate Variance During Emotion

The Institute of HeartMath conducted a study that connects the relationship between the heart, emotions, and the brain.

The image above shows the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) between experiencing frustration and experiencing appreciation. This visual example clearly shows how our decision-making abilities are impacted when we are experiencing a strong negative emotion. 

Organizational leadership requires an understanding of how emotions can affect your team. When you sense a team member is being influenced by an extreme emotion, use that moment to be proactive and recognize that their brain is not working the way it normally does. Then, figure out a way to change that emotion into a soothing one.

The intersection of organizational leadership and emotions is the understanding of the nature of emotions and how they don’t just turn off at work. By allowing them to be present in the workplace, leaders can identify them. This way,  if they are positive, they potentiate them, whereas if they are negative, they can shift them to achieve optimal performance.