How emotions at work influence leadership effectiveness and organizational success
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As I prepared to deliver a speech to the leadership of an organization facing major restructuring, I asked the meeting planner for background on the audience.
“We’ve presented all the facts,” she replied. “But it would be much easier if everyone weren’t so emotional!”
In business, people are supposed to think logically and act rationally. Leaders quantify everything and try to present information in ways that help employees make objective decisions.
Emotions are not supposed to be part of the equation. But the fact is that all employees bring their emotions to the workplace. The more I study the psychology of people at work, the more I see how emotions are integral to everything that happens in an organization.
According to neurologist and author Antonio Damasio, the centre of our conscious thought (the prefrontal cortex) is so tightly connected to the emotion-generating amygdala that no one makes decisions based on pure logic. Damasio’s research makes it clear that logical reasoning is no more than a way to justify emotional choices.
 Photo by Nik |
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Emotion gets our attention. Emotionally charged stimuli (ECS) persist much longer in memory, and people remember the emotional components (fear, joy, surprise, anger, embarrassment, etc.) of an experience better than any other aspect.
Emotions dictate actions. Our past experiences carry an emotional charge that is encoded in memory, so we subconsciously assess a new situation based on past emotions. We are motivated to act on those we have labelled “good” and reject those deemed “bad.”
Emotions drive performance. Positive emotions increase energy, learning, and motivation. Worry, resentment, or boredom decrease physical and mental energy and impair mental agility. When pressure becomes excessive, soaring cortisol levels combined with adrenaline can actually paralyze mental functions.
Emotions can even hijack a negotiation. Negotiating in a positive mood increases our tendency to select a co-operative strategy and helps us avoid the development of hostility and conflict. Negotiating when angry makes us less likely to accurately judge the interests of opponents and achieve joint gains.
Emotions are highly infectious, and “catching” them is a universal human phenomenon. In a study by Peter Totterdell of the University of Sheffield, nurses recorded their moods each day at work for three weeks. Totterdell found that the moods of different teams shifted together over time. He also found this same tendency in teams of accountants and cricket players.
It’s also true that emotions flow most strongly from the most powerful person in the room to others. We monitor our leaders and are extremely sensitive to what the boss says and does. Researchers at California State University, Long Beach, found that when business leaders were in a good mood, members of their workgroups experienced more positive emotions and were more productive than groups whose leaders were in a bad mood.
Good or bad, emotional responses can happen before we have time to process them consciously. In a study at the University of Tubingen in Germany, people were shown photos of happy or sad faces on a computer and then asked questions to gauge their emotional reactions. Subjects reported corresponding emotions to the photos – even when the pictures lasted only fractions of a second.
So, I made sure my harried meeting planner understood that, of course, we all want change to make logical sense. But we also need – and it’s a primary need – to view challenges and solutions in ways that validate and influence our feelings about our organizations, our jobs, and ourselves.
And that involves emotions. Because, like it or not, as I told her, emotions have already been driving or inhibiting the organization’s successful transformation.
Dr. Carol Kinsey Goman is an expert in nonverbal communication, body language, and leadership presence. She is a speaker, author, and executive coach who works with business leaders and organizations to improve their communication and leadership skills. Goman has written several books, including STAND OUT: How to Build Your Leadership Presence, which explores how nonverbal cues impact leadership effectiveness. With a background in psychology, she combines research in neuroscience with practical insights to help leaders understand the power of body language in building trust, influencing others, and fostering collaboration.
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