Emotional Culture Matters

I noticed how a lot of the problems my clients encounter at work stem from the lack of awareness of their emotions. We encounter disagreements with colleagues, feel frustrated and disappointed with certain people or tasks, and the amount of workload builds up and contributes to our stress. Eventually, we burnout.

I also noticed that something in common among these clients was that they often hear coworkers and managers say statements like, “Let’s just get the work done”, “I don’t want drama”, “Our feelings are getting in the way, let’s put them aside and focus on the work”. While these statements may be valid to a certain extent, the effect it has on us is that we end up suppressing how we feel. Instead of acknowledging what stresses us out, we convince ourselves that nothing is wrong and we are completely fine. The more we suppress our feelings, the more our anxiety, stress, and even resentment grow.

I discovered more and more reasons why emotional culture matters, as I engaged with the Emotional Culture Deck and the different culture maps, workshops, and reflection handbooks.

Here are the Top 3 things I discovered from conducting my Emotional Culture workshops.


WE EXPERIENCE MORE POSITIVE EMOTIONS

When emotions are welcomed rather than repressed, people flourish and thrive (Razzetti, 2020). When we acknowledge our emotions, we give ourselves the opportunity to understand them and what causes them. This in turn allows us to evaluate the situations we encounter that bring about these feelings. Something I often say when I conduct workshops about emotions is, “If we understand how we are feeling, we can do something about it.” May it be to pause and breathe or to have a conversation with the person we had a disagreement with.

Fredrickson (2001) states that positive emotions can help broaden and build over time. This means that an increase in our positive emotions can build our intellectual, social, physical, and psychological resources. These then contribute to our capacity to foster better relationships, improve wellbeing, live longer, become more resilient and creative, and even solve more complex problems.


WE BECOME MORE PRODUCTIVE

Studies have shown that stress impairs mental flexibility, memory, attention, and impulse control (Emotions in the Workplace: Why Managers Need to Care, 2022). When stress builds, it tends to lead to burnout, which often means that we no longer have the capacity to deal with the situations and people we encounter, both mentally and emotionally.

In my personal experience, and based on what I’ve noticed from my clients, ignoring our emotions, especially the negative ones, tends to make us unproductive. Have you ever experienced fighting with a loved one and then trying to focus on an important task at work? Most likely, you found it difficult to get anything done. On the other hand, when something happens and it makes you happy, you most likely find yourself with so much energy to complete several different tasks.

We play an important role in creating the environment we want to experience and one that we find most productive (Gagen MacDonald, 2020). When we ignore our emotions and the emotions of others in the workplace, we contribute to an emotional culture that promotes suppression.

When we encourage team members to talk about their emotions with each other, it fosters an environment where “emotions drive action and shapes culture” (ECD Workshop Participant, 2022).

“Emotions drive action and shapes culture.” – 2022 ECD Workshop Participant, Pushpin Visuals


WE BECOME MORE AUTHENTIC

People in groups “catch” feelings from others (Barsade & O’Neill, 2016). If a company wants employees to feel grateful, putting in place practices and reminders around gratitude can help employees to feel more grateful. In the case where not everyone follows these practices, having just a few people model this and feel grateful can foster a culture of gratitude, which will eventually spread across individuals and becomes an authentic feeling for them.

Barsade and O’Neill (2016) also state that an organization’s culture is likely to be stronger when employees genuinely follow its guiding principles and values. When we truly believe in the emotions that the company desires, we are more likely to feel and experience them, thus increasing the behaviors and practices that are linked to such desired emotions. This creates a snowball effect of more employees authentically experiencing the said desired emotions.

My clients have shared that when they start their day by focusing on the desired emotions at work, they become less critical of themselves and less concerned about what people might think about them. They find that they can express themselves better, share their opinions and ideas with others, and even experience a more psychologically safe environment which encourages them to be who they really are.


Organizations have an opportunity to strengthen their desired cultures by also intentionally creating their emotional culture. Through the process of purposely choosing the emotions they want (and not want) to feel at work, they can help their employees to experience more positive emotions, become more productive, and be their true selves.



DISCOVER MORE ABOUT EMOTIONAL CULTURE
https://www.ridersandelephants.com/the-emotional-culture-deck?ref=PRKjg012n98_kJ

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EMOTIONAL CULTURE MASTERCLASS
https://www.ridersandelephants.com/emotional-culture-deck-online-masterclass-course?ref=PRKjg012n98_kJ

USE MY CODE “CELEBRATEYOURSPARKLE” AND GET A HUGE DISCOUNT when you purchase anything from Riders & Elephants or when you join the Masterclass.





REFERENCES
Barsade, S., & O’Neill, A. (2016, January 16). Manage your emotional culture. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved July 7, 2023, from https://hbr.org/2016/01/manage-your-emotional-culture

Emotions in the workplace: Why managers need to care. (2022, May 25). Yours App. Retrieved July 14, 2023, from https://yoursapp.com/business/blog/workplace-emotions/

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218

Gagen MacDonald. (2020, February 27). Gagen MacDonald. Retrieved July 14, 2023, from https://www.gagenmacdonald.com/blog/the-power-of-emotional-culture-bringing-your-whole-self-to-work

Your workplace emotional culture is powerful – Just listen | By Gustavo Razzetti. (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2023, from https://www.fearlessculture.design/blog-posts/your-workplace-emotional-culture-is-powerful-just-listen