Team members aren’t always in the same mood, and emotions can affect their work. This can be good or bad. When you understand the nuances of your team’s emotions, you can better support them and help them perform their best. In addition, emotional intelligence allows teams to build cross-boundary relationships, which are critical for success in a global business.
How do I manage my team’s emotions?
It’s no secret that emotions have an important impact on workplace productivity, morale and professional reputation. However, when emotional episodes become too intense, they can be challenging to manage without negatively impacting your team’s output and morale.
Fortunately, there are strategies that you can use to help your team deal with negative emotions in healthy ways. These include creating a safe space, addressing anger, and de-escalating conflict.
1. Understand your own emotions.
It can be tempting to bottle up your emotions or to avoid showing them. This can be a bad idea because it can help your team and set a better example.
Instead, try to understand your feelings and how they affect you. This will help you deal with it more effectively.
If you notice that your team is struggling with strong emotions, give them space to talk through their feelings privately. They may be dealing with some personal issues or challenges at work or have experienced a tough day at the office.
2. Understand your team’s emotions.
When teams understand their emotions, they can manage them better. This can help them perform better, including resolving conflict and making decisions.
One way to improve your team’s emotional intelligence is to create an emotionally supportive culture. This can be done by modelling positive emotions and encouraging them to ripple throughout the team.
Another way to create an emotionally supportive culture is by establishing norms and values. For example, an emotional culture of companionate love can motivate affection and care among members.
3. Be aware of your own emotions.
One of the most important skills a leader can develop is emotional self-awareness. Recognizing your emotions and how they affect you helps you regulate your behaviour and avoid letting negative emotions take over your leadership.
This will also help you be more aware of your team’s emotions and the emotions of people outside your group. This awareness will lead to more productive interactions and improve your ability to build cross-boundary relationships.
4. Be aware of your team’s emotions.
Emotions are part of the working experience but can also be disruptive. Having team members sob in the restroom, shout across their desks or celebrate their latest deal a little too wildly can hurt your professional reputation and productivity.
As a leader, it’s important to be aware of how your team is feeling and be able to influence their emotional dynamics. You can create emotionally intelligent teams that perform better by taking a few simple steps. Those teams are also more likely to form cross-boundary relationships, which are crucial to the success of any business.
5. Be aware of your team’s emotions.
Emotions are an inevitable part of team life and work. Some emotions are positive, such as the desire to succeed and be part of a team, and others are negative, such as stress.
It’s important to be aware of your team’s emotions, as they can help you understand their motivation and what makes them productive.
It’s also important to be aware of how team members feel so you can respond empathetically when they ask for help. This can make connecting with your team and building trust in the workplace easier.