Human emotions are as complex as they are varied. In a span of one day, we all experience a significant number of emotional highs and lows. An average person in a high-stress environment may experience even more. Emotions do not take a break, and they are always present influencing our behaviour, performance, and relationships.
We often speak about the significance of individual leaders understanding the impact of their behaviour on organizational performance. A critical part to understanding your behaviour and how it directly relates to you, as an influential leader, is being aware of your emotions, and in turn once aware having the ability to manage them and the response they generate from others.
While you can stimulate, inspire, and detect emotions in others, you cannot control their emotions. Only they can manage theirs, and you, yours. Influential leaders are leaders (with or without a formal title or role) who possess the mind and behaviour habits that create positive and energized emotions within and around them. They are adept at handling their emotions and this competency is useful for everyone they interact with. It sets them free from the negative energies stirred up by emotional interactions.
Influential leaders are highly practiced with the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and it places them in a position to model emotionally balanced behaviour. More important, it enables them to be responsive to others’ needs, which is a primary contributor to employee engagement. Most people are not born with emotional awareness that comes with the skill of Positive Presence – it is, for the most part, a learned ‘skill’.
It is important to understand that the majority of your emotions arise from your subconscious – a life time of experiences and even past life times of experiences that were transferred to your DNA at the time of conception. When you hear people talk about ‘handling’ your emotions there is a process that we must consciously learn to do. Some people’s brains are naturally wired for this process, but for most of us, it is something that must be learned through awareness and practice. It is therefore critical that you learn to first acknowledge your emotion, second, identify your thoughts that the emotion triggers, and finally ‘see’ your behaviour and how it affects you and those around you.
Learning the skill of Positive Presence is, for most people, a slow and gentle process of learning — on the job, in real time. It is not something we learn in isolation, but it must be tried and tested in your workplace with your work colleagues – because, what works for one person, will not work for all. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ quick fix. Learning the skill of Positive Presence requires an open mind, a common vocabulary, and a will to change, flex and adapt. Learning the skill of Positive Presence will, by its very nature, create a culture of accountability and collaboration – a huge bonus and necessity in today’s global work environment.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.