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Managing emotions in the workplace
By Jenny
C. McCune • Bankrate.com
As the owner of a small business, you may think all
you need to manage is your people and your resources. Those management
skills are important. But to be in complete control of your workplace,
you also need to be a master of emotions, both yours and your employees'.
"I believe that our relationship with another
person is as important as the ideas we are trying to get across,"
says Rick Maurer, author of Why
Don't You Want What I Want.
In other words, to get your workers to perform you
need to give more than just clear instructions. You also need a
clear understanding of their emotions. Companies often ignore emotions
and that's to their detriment, says Maurer, president of Maurer
& Associates in Arlington, Va.
Without that emotional-management component, a work
environment can become toxic. When workers perform out of fear,
loathing or anger, a company usually isn't productive. And a workplace
where emotions run rampant can turn off employees, vendors and customers
alike. Imagine the problems facing a restaurant where the maitre
d' routinely berates waiters in public.
Even when the problems aren't obvious, they can damage
a company's productivity. It can be a special problem for a small
business. Unlike a corporate giant where there are plenty of places
to bury emotional issues, smaller firms provide fewer options. In
many cases, the only way a staff member can escape is to quit, says
Janelle Barlow, president of TMI US, a Las Vegas-based human resources
training company.
The boss comes first
So where does a small-business owner start to gauge his firm's emotional
temperature? Rachna D. Jain, founder of Excel with Ease Coaching,
advises owners to start by looking at themselves.
Maurer agrees. "The big thing to ask yourself
is 'What am I doing that contributes to building trust, confidence
and morale, and what am I doing that is getting in the way of trust,
confidence and morale?'" Maurer says.
To maximize emotional well-being, psychologist Jain
recommends that a boss:
- Take vacations.
Regularly schedule time off.
- Find three or four people to support you during
tough times. They can be mentors, coaches or simply friends.
- Schedule frequent breaks during the workday. Go
for a quick 10-minute walk.
During the workday, there are regular measures you
can take to keep your cool. It's what Kristin Anderson, president
of Say What? Consulting in Minneapolis, Minn., calls "emotion-taming
tactics." Two easy ones are:
1. Maintaining a neutral body and voice.
Just keeping your body loose and your tone neutral can help you
stay calm, says Terri Levine, author of Work
Yourself Happy and president of Comprehensive Coaching
U in North Wales, Pa.
2. Practicing nonjudgment. Try to listen to what employees
or customers have to say without determining whether it's right
or wrong, good or bad.
Sometimes it's impossible to stay calm. If that's
the case, be honest with your employees. "When you're upset,
admit it, confess, name it," Anderson says.
Keeping the company cool
Once a boss gets his emotions under control, then it's time to translate
that to the entire company. Some ways human resource trainer Barlow
suggests to promote a healthy, emotionally well-tuned company include:
- Promote bonding with "team" events.
In the case of Barlow's company, she organized and paid for her
staff to go on a cruise. "We [also] go to concerts together,
we have frequent dinners at my home, etc." she says.
- Let employees attend a stress-management class.
If your company can't offer one internally, consider an outside
course.
- Offer help when a need is apparent. If an
employee shows signs of needing assistance to manage anger, is
overly assertive or too timid, help the worker in the form of
a class or therapy.
- Treat everyone fairly by setting up and following
clear policies and procedures. Having rules in place minimizes
emotional conflicts.
- Turn off the heat before tensions reach the
boiling point. Barlow tries to keep on top of employee emotions
by bringing them to the surface. "I ask directly what is
happening if I sense that something is going on," she says.
"The biggest danger is letting something ripen to the degree
that people are no longer talking with each other. That's extremely
dangerous in a small office."
Consultant Maurer recommends a business owner find
the employee who's the workplace's emotional barometer. "This
is the person who picks up what's going on and will
speak his or her mind with you," Maurer says. Take this worker
out to lunch and pick his or her brain.
Maurer also finds value in employee focus groups.
Ask workers what's on their minds, what they like about the company,
what could be done better, what's getting in the way of them doing
their jobs.
Don't expect instant feedback, Maurer warns. Your
company will probably need to hold several focus groups before employees
trust you and will speak out. In the initial stages, be sure to
accept all feedback even if an employee starts complaining about
the color of the door knobs in your office. Use your acceptance
of what they say as a way to get employees to open up more.
Finally, realize that emotions can't be separated
from the workplace. Some, in fact, are critical to business success:
Enthusiasm or happiness can produce workers who are more productive.
But employees who let their emotions run rampant can hurt themselves
and the company. A successful boss will find ways to control an
office's emotional flare-ups.
Jenny C. McCune is a contributing
editor based in Montana.
-- Posted: Sept. 27, 2002
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