How Do Our Emotions Impact Our Professional Success?
We experience emotions every moment of the day and we catch them from others like a virus, spreading positive or negative emotions company-wide.
The Emotion Wheel by Dr. Robert Plutchik
Emotions color everything we do. They affect and influence every interaction, and in many ways, they predict every outcome. That’s why Emotional Intelligence, the awareness, and management of emotions in ourselves and others, is:
4x more important than IQ in determining professional success
accounts for 85 – 90% of success at work
a critical competency for leadership today
Researchers have mapped as few as eight primary emotions: anger, anticipation, joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, and disgust, to as many as 34,000 distinguishable emotions. You can learn more about Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions (shown right) and download three emotional intelligence exercises for free here.
In her recently published book, “Atlas of the Heart”, Brené Brown explores 87 human emotions that we all experience at some point in our lives. She argues that it’s up to us to decide how we want to respond to our emotions. Her book is a recommended read for all leaders and their teams. HBO subscribers will want to check out Brown’s recently filmed five-part series for HBO Max.
“... those who are able to distinguish between a range of various emotions “do much, much better at managing the ups and downs of ordinary existence than those who see everything in black and white.”
Emotional Intelligence and Personal Success
For decades, researchers have explored why a high IQ does not necessarily guarantee success in the classroom or the boardroom. In 1990, psychologists John Mayer and Peter Salovey coined the term, “Emotional Intelligence” and their work was taken a step further by renowned psychologist, scientific journalist, and author, Daniel Goleman, who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence (EQ) in 1995, in his book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.
Goleman found that IQ and technical skills are necessary, but not sufficient for success. They are the “entry-level requirements for executive positions”. His research, along with that of others reveals that emotional intelligence is the “sine qua non of leadership”. Without EQ, a person can have superior credentials, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he or she still won’t make a great leader.
In later work, Goleman teamed with Case Western Reserve professor Richard Boyatzis and U.Penn faculty member Annie McKee, to explore the contagious nature of emotions at work, and the link between leaders’ emotional states and their companies’ financial success in “Primal Leadership”.
“If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.”
Organizational Success
Most leaders don’t fully appreciate the role of emotions in building the right culture. In their research, Barsade and O’Neill found that an organization’s “emotional culture” influences everything from employee satisfaction, burnout, and teamwork … to financial performance and absenteeism. When leaders don’t understand emotions at a personal, team, and organizational level, they fail to understand what makes organizations tick, and their companies suffer as a consequence.
Developing Emotional Intelligence for Professional & Organizational Success
In our workshops at JPLA, we’ve been developing our client organizations’ capabilities to:
Understand the purpose of emotions and what happens physiologically when they occur
Diagnose individual emotional triggers
Assess/develop the ability to manage emotions
Interrupt unproductive emotions
Practice applying learnings to workplace scenarios
Increase engagement by managing emotions
We leverage the work of David Rock and his “SCARF Model® from his book Your Brain At Work, to help us understand the five domains of social experience that are likely to trigger a toward or away response in the brain:
Status – seniority, authority, position
Certainty – predicting the near future
Autonomy – having control over one’s existence
Relatedness – being in or out of the social group
Fairness – perceived sense of justice; what’s ‘right’
Watch this animated video to learn more about the Dr David Rock's SCARF model and how it impacts motivation and performance.
“Bring your dopamine or adrenaline level down by activating other regions of the brain other than the prefrontal cortex. ”
Learning to recognize, understand, and manage your emotions as well as developing your emotional intelligence is not only a critical factor to professional success at every stage in your career, but it is also important in your personal life, and for your health. Check out the resources below to learn more.
Contact us if we can help to increase your associates’ and leaders’ engagement through Emotional Intelligence, Jonathanlparker@outlook.com
Reading & References
The Background
Goleman, Daniel. “What People (Still) Get Wrong about Emotional Intelligence.” Harvard Business Review, 22 Dec. 2020.
David Rock's SCARF Model: Using Neuroscience to Work Effectively With Others. The SCARF Model was developed in 2008 by David Rock, in his paper " SCARF: A Brain-Based Model for Collaborating With and Influencing Others ." SCARF stands for the five key "domains" that influence our behavior in social situations. These are: Status – our relative importance to others. Certainty – our ability to predict the future.
Ovans, Andrea. “How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill.” Harvard Business Review, 5 May 2015.
Tritsch, Erik. “What Is Goleman's Theory of Emotional Intelligence?” Fairborn Digital Academy, 22 Sept. 2021.
The Research
Brown, Brené. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience. Vermilion, 2021. Author Brené Brown sits down with NBC News NOW anchor, Joshua Johnson, to discuss her new book “Atlas of the Heart” and the many facets of human emotion.
Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence: The 25th Anniversary Edition. Bantam Books, 2020.
Rohini Radhakrishnan, ENT, and MBBS Dr. Sruthi M. “What Are the 27 Basic Emotions? Effects on Physical Health.” MedicineNet, 7 Apr. 2022. ““The discrete emotion theory claims that there are 12 discrete emotions (as measured via the Differential Emotions Scale), whereas according to the latest research conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, 27 distinct categories of emotions have been identified. Thousands of individuals were studied, as well as their responses to different videos, music, and various situations were analyzed to determine the types of emotional categories that were truly distinct.”
The Resources
Barsade, Sigal, and Olivia A. O’Neill. “Manage Your Emotional Culture” Harvard Business Review, 16 Dec. 2020. “This article describes some of the ways emotional culture manifests at work—for instance, in the form of joy, companionate love, and fear—and the impact it can have in a range of settings and industries. It also suggests ways of creating and maintaining an emotional culture that will help you achieve your company’s goals.”
Karimova, Hokuma. “The Emotion Wheel: What It Is and How To Use It.” PositivePsychology.com, 28 Mar. 2022. Download three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will not only enhance your ability to understand and work with your emotions but will also give you the tools to foster the emotional intelligence of your employees.
Singh, Anjali. “Understanding Your Emotions inside out with the Emotion Wheel: Fear.” Calm Sage - Your Guide to Mental and Emotional Well-Being, Calm Sage, 15 Mar. 2021. Singh explains the emotion wheel given by Dr. Robert Plutchik and explores FEAR, the opposite emotion of ANGER. He offers helpful advice on how to recognize and manage FEAR.