Who would have thought ten years ago that in 2010 our most reputable business magazines would be all focused on ‘Emotions in the Workplace’ and how to tap the discretionary energy of their workforce?
 
It makes sense that our progress through the ages ? from ‘Agricultural’ through ‘Industrial’, ‘Information’, and to the brink of ‘Imagination’ ? has markedly changed our expectations and requirements of people in business.
 
Historically people were employed largely for their muscle power ? to do physical things.  Increasingly during the second half of the last century, they were employed for their brain power ? to do mental things.  In the 21st century we expect people to bring their whole selves to work rather than just their muscles or their brains, and as we head into the ‘Imagination’ age, there is increasing demand for people to bring to their jobs not only their mind and body, but their inherent ‘x factor’ where creativity and true passion lie.
 
This ‘x factor’ or discretionary energy is tapped at the emotional level.  Emotion plays a central role in alertness, attention, creativity, and decision making and execution, and can be experienced either as a positive or negative feeling in the body.  Since feelings drive behaviour, ultimately it is emotion that guides every decision.
 

What does this mean for business?

The decision making of your individuals, teams and organisation relies on people feeling positive, confident, and valued both in their work and as individuals.
 
Will Schutz, author of The Human Element, concluded after many years of working with organisations that a positive self concept and high self esteem is the key to increasing productivity and the quality of the workplace.  Because self-esteem is at the heart of all relationships and productivity inside organisations, creating workplace environments where people feel good about themselves and their work has become an essential ingredient of business success.

How can an organisation make use of self-esteem?

Here is a new twist on an old saying: If I give a hungry woman a fish, she won’t be hungry.  If I teach her how to fish, she’ll never be hungry.  But, if I create conditions within which she teaches herself how to fish, she’ll never be hungry and she may have enhanced self esteem.
 
Self-esteem and it’s resulting emotions play out in your organisation in the following ways:
(Excerpt taken from Self-Esteem: The Key to Productivity by Will Schutz)
 
Teamwork difficulties arise from individual’s rigidities and defensiveness which come not from difference among members, but from low self-esteem and fear of exposure.


Conflict resolution similarly depends on dissolving individual’s rigidities and getting people to see conflict as a logical puzzle for team members to solve together.


Problem solving is blocked when a person is anxious about being exposed, or is determined to be right, or shows other kinds of defensive behaviour that stem from low self-esteem.
 
Leadership relies centrally on self-awareness, which in turn requires sufficiently strong self-esteem to acknowledge individual weaknesses and feel comfortable being know to others.


Performance appraisal is successful to the extent each person feels acknowledged for his or her strengths and weaknesses and for who he or she is and, through healthy self-esteem, is willing to give up blame in favour of mutual problem solving.
 
Injury and illness-free workplaces may also be attained through self-awareness.
 
Quality programs succeed when personal agendas based on low self-esteem are handled effectively.
 
Diversity may be celebrated when threats to the self-concept from ‘different’ groups are alleviated.
 
 
The challenge for leaders today is ‘how to’ manage emotions in the workplace. This is our specialty at The Effect, teaching people inside organisations how to:

• Have the courageous conversations
• Be comfortable listening to co-workers feelings without becoming defensive
• Reframe situations and feeling positively
• Create environments where the whole aspect of the person comes to work

Enabling your people to recognise and manage emotions in this way is the key to optimising the productivity and decision making of your organisation for ongoing business results.