It's never "Take your stress to work" day.
You know the saying, leave your work at work. But do we do that? If you do, great. If you bring it home, it's a good time to quit it for good.
If you bring your stresses of home to work with you, that can prove disastrous for your team. Leaders do not only manage groups of people; they also control the emotional health of their people.
If you greet your team stressed, they will feel it. If you are solemn or angry or tense, your direct reports will be directly affected.
"Managing our emotions effectively in the workplace is a major component of success for all of us."
Wearing your emotions on your sleeve can complicate and stifle teamwork and lead to excessive turnover of those seeking a more stable environment.
So what can you do about it, especially if you are an emotional person? Here are a few thoughts, devoid of emotion, we've collected over the years.
Know when and how to share. Only use emotions to build comradery and relationships. Be careful of sharing for the sole purpose of getting it off your chest. Reserve that for friends and loved ones. Oversharing can be taxing on employees who are not emotionally intelligent enough to handle your situation.
Be aware of your direct report's emotional bank account balance. Covey's theory of deposits and withdrawals is a simple way to keep track of how you are affecting the team. Stressful times are taxing on your employee's emotions, while an atmosphere of camaraderie and successes add to the balance. Draining their accounts with excessive stress will overdraw, and take the team out of balance.
Be aware of how your feelings affect others, including employees, customers, and the organization as a whole.
Be aware of how your feelings affect others, including employees, customers, and the organization as a whole. Work on being a leader who shares the right emotions when the time is right. And build up the balances of your direct report's emotional bank accounts before asking for anything in return
You can read about emotional bank accounts here:
https://resources.franklincovey.com/blog/take-stock-of-your-emotional-bank-accounts
At LaineGabriel, we specialize in the art of employee happiness, creating a well-choreographed experience that resonates with a company's values, understanding a company's "why" and strategically building a culture around the brand.