AS noted in last week’s instalment, there is a role and place of emotions in the workplace. In as much as we should not walk around being bags and basket cases of emotions, we do not necessarily have to deny or downplay them. All that is key is for us to know how to express them, regulate, manage and benefit from them.
David R. Caruso and Peter Salovey in their book “The Emotionally Intelligent Manager” (Jossey-Bass,2004) state that in order to leverage the power of one’s emotions to be a better manager and leader, there are six principles of emotional intelligence to consider.
These are as follows: (i) emotion is information, (ii) we can try to ignore emotion, but it doesn’t work (iii) we can try to hide emotions, but we are not as good at it as we think (iv) decisions must incorporate emotion to be effective (v) emotions follow logical patterns and (vi) emotional universals exist but so do specifics.
Principle 1: Emotion is information
Emotions contain data about you and your world. Emotions are not random, chaotic events that interfere with thinking. An emotion occurs due to some factor that is important to you, and it helps motivate you and guide you to success.
At the most basic level, emotions can be viewed as:
• Occurring due to some sort of change in the world around you
• Starting automatically
• Quickly generating physiological changes
• Changing what you were paying attention to and how you were thinking
• Preparing you for action
• Creating personal feelings
