I Discovered Emotional Culture

In February 2022, I was browsing through different programs and looking for the next thing I wanted to learn. I stumbled upon Emotional Culture and I was hooked!

I immediately signed up for a masterclass. Luckily, it was starting on the 1st of March. It was self-paced course and I was given a month to complete it. I was so excited that when the course launched, I accessed it that same day and completed it in less than 4 hours. Upon completing the course, I immediately shared it with my husband. During the weekend, after the course, I shared it with my cousins and was absolutely happy with my experience with it.


WHAT IS CULTURE?

Culture is defined as the collective attitudes, values, objectives, and behaviors that define an organization (“Definition of Culture,” 2023). This definition seems to be how most companies think about culture, as they focus on crafting their mission, vision, and values. Personally, this is how I grew up thinking about culture. The questions I often encountered when talking about culture consisted of:
• What shared practices and traditions do we have as a group have? What practices or traditions do we want to have together?
• What do we value and believe in that will help us succeed?
• What goals are we working on together? Are we all aligned when it comes to our goals?

According to Barsade & O'Neil (2016), there are two types of culture - Cognitive and Emotional. Cognitive culture is exactly what is described above. It focuses on the usual norms that help a group to work together, "it sets the tone for how employees think and behave at work” (Barsade & O'Neil, 2016).

The second one, Emotional Culture, is a more foreign concept in the corporate world. It was definitely new to me when I came across it, which is what really intrigued me by it. The more I learned about it, the more I thought “This really makes sense!” and “Why in the world are organizations not doing this?” Emotional culture looks at how people feel and which feelings they express in the workplace, or with the group. Emotional culture is also defined as the emotions, attitudes, and moods of the employees, as well as the general "feel", of the company or a group one belongs to (Kovary, 2017).


BECOMING A CERTIFIED CONSULTANT

My experience with emotional culture, as I learned more about it, resonated with the leaders I spoke to, every coaching client I used it with, and each participant who experienced the Emotional Culture workshops I conducted. The more I used it, the more I fell in love with it.

My experiences encouraged me to become a Certified Emotional Culture Consultant. In November 2022, I started a 9-month long course to become a certified consultant. The program consisted of 6 online workshops during the first 2 weeks, monthly online sessions with my cohort, and a whole lot of support from Jeremy Dean, the founder and creator of the Emotional Culture Deck (ECD). It also required me to reflect on myself using the different ECD tools, conduct more Emotional Culture workshops, have more conversations with leaders using ECD, and write a number of blogs about emotional culture.

Fast-forward to today, here I am launching my blog about emotional culture. The next few blog posts will share the different things I learned as I went through the course, and are also part of my journey to becoming a Certified Consultant.



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

Definition of culture. (2023). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture

Kovary, G. (2017). The emotional culture of your organization. www.linkedin.com. Retrieved July 7, 2023, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/emotional-culture-your-organization-giselle-kovary/