25 November 2009
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
I'd rather you didn't bark at me all the time!
Emotional investment at work improves relationships, increases trust, and promotes deeper and more sustainable agreements. And it's a low-cost, high-payoff approach.
You mean, feelings matter?
Yes they do, according to Dan Shapiro, Director of the Harvard International Negotiation Program. His research shows emotions at work arise due to five core concerns:
- Appreciation - how others recognize my value.
- Affiliation - feeling emotionally connected to others.
- Autonomy - my freedom to feel, think, or decide for myself.
- Status - my standing in relation to others.
- Role - my job label and related activities.
Addressing each of those concerns in communicating with staff can be one of the greatest sources of value for the organisation, says Shapiro.
Fostering positive emotions at work to boost performance also depends on the team's epistemic motivation. This is the desire to process information thoroughly and really grasp the meaning behind others' emotions. Some people have a lot of it, and some don't have much.
Gerben van Kleef and colleagues from the University of Amsterdam found that anger was more effective in boosting the performance of teams with high epistemic motivation, and cheerfulness was more effective for teams with low epistemic motivation.
But stress has been shown to decrease epistemic motivation. Team members under turbulent conditions are more likely to take offense at the use of anger, even if their epistemic motivation was high to begin with.
The clear message is that your successful management of teams and performance outcomes depends on your ability to:
- Accurately diagnose the emotions of team members,
- Correctly understand the situation and the context, and
- Regulate your own emotions accordingly.
This is why positive psychology approaches such as a Strengths Based Performance Management and Appreciative Inquiry are now at the leading edge of team and organisation change programs.
, you can get more information on how to harness these approaches for yourself and your organisation here.
And find out about the Charter for Compassion on my "Wisdom Circle" blog for musings, research, and applications of practical wisdom!
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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