Hidden Dynamics is about welcoming emotions into the workplace. With friends, spouses or lovers, we talk about work a great deal. We discuss what we like, what we don't like, the people we work with, the customers we serve, the situations we encounter, and the company itself - its products, politics, profits, and problems. Yet on the job, only a trusted few know what we really think. For most of us our feelings are private.

Welcoming emotions into the workplace is critical to the success of our organizations. The changes now affecting the workplace extend far beyond the particulars of upgrading production and coping with increased market competition. They involve radical shifts in the ways we interact socially and interpersonally. These profound changes cannot be embraced and integrated without addressing our deepest thoughts and feelings. They require us to open our hearts and deal with our emotions.

Taking Down the Walls

In work, as in our personal lives, we can no longer succeed without taking down the walls that separate us. Progress demands levels of collaboration and teamwork we never dreamed were possible. Issues such as health care, a global economy, the environment, and balancing the budget cannot be addressed successfully by any one group. From small community and nonprofit organizations to large government agencies, multinational corporations, and entire nations, we are awakening to the blunt fact that we must work together in new ways to solve the problems that face us. Widespread recognition of the need for significant change can be seen in the number of organizations that are restricting around teams, implementing quality management, and having their people take courses on ways to empower people. We are moving, more by necessity than by choice, from traditional hierarchical structures to leaner, flatter, more fluid organizations. We do so because we posses neither the human nor the financial resources to survive any other way.

The time is past when we can live without one other, pursue independent agendas, permit internal groups to be at war, and allow politics to get in the way of our real priorities. Our continued survival depends on our ability to trust each other, share our resources, and build bridges to other people and organizations. We must develop a new perspective.

Business as Usual

Despite great technological advances, the human changes needed for success in the workplace continue to elude us. Managers talk about empowerment, but employees don't believe their words; teams are formed, but they are unable to make anything happen; managers learn new skills, but they quickly return to "business as usual." We are continually reaching for the brass ring, but are unable to grasp it. 

Denise, a human resources manager for a national retail companies recognized for its excellent customer service and quality products, states it wells: "We have mastered all the technical aspects of business, but the real challenges are the human ones. Despite our success, people are still unable to reach agreement, work collaboratively, and share resources. We can't get people to trust each other."

To grab the brass ring we must welcome our thoughts and feelings into the workplace. We must foster the courage and provide the safety for people to share their real experience (thoughts, feelings, reactions and insights). We must create a new sense of community where employees can confront bosses, where business decisions can be questioned, where it is safe to say, "I'm unhappy here," where rocking the boat is expected, where honesty is the norm, and where deep feelings are shared. Honest opinions and authentic feelings are untapped resources that will help us and our organizations to prosper.

The benefits of addressing and using these feelings are:

- Less Stress 
- Better Understanding of the real issues 
- Higher motivation 
- More honest relationships 

When unpleasant emotions are present, we know it. We feel them and react accordingly, regardless of whether they are spoken about or held in silently. We have a kind of inner gyroscope that tells us when things are not right. It's survival instinct. At work, we know when our star is rising, when peers disapprove of us, when we're not in sync with what's going on, when layoffs are coming, which people are likely to get promoted or fired, and when a prospective change might threaten us. We become speculative, worried, anxious, and alert during these times. Our emotions are warning us; that is their function.

The awareness is not limited to ourselves. Others can pick up our feelings on their intuitive radar. When we don't like someone or something, others know it. If we acknowledged this uncanny ability, we would realize that all the "private conversations" we have about other people are, on some level, known to them. Frightening, isn't it? We spend all this time avoiding difficult issues while we are dealing with them anyway - only covertly.

Most of us, however, pretend that we do not have this awareness, and instead we get upset stomachs, headaches, and heartburn. Even those of us who acknowledge these subtle feelings often do not have the confidence, courage or certainty to act on them. Our "not so nice" feelings are like a Pandora's box. We've been taught: Don't open the box, don't ever open the box. Curiously, however, this is the very box we most need to open. And why not? The box is already open. It is hardly possible to do more harm.

Eight Principles of Emotions

1) Emotional needs express themselves one way or another.
2) Anger is an expression of need.
3) Our feelings and needs are not wrong or bad.
4) Emotions are the gateway to vitality and feeling alive.
5) We can address emotional issues and still save face.
6) Immediate reactions to problems often disguise deeper feelings.
7) We must clarify individual needs before problem solving with others
8) We need to express positive feelings and communicate negative ones.

As we begin to deal with emotions, we realize just how much they affect our business every day. Team effectiveness is strengthened or weakened by the existence of trust and teamwork. Our ability to implement change is highly dependent on emotional buy in and commitment. The relationship between managers and employees determines whether or not we feel empowered or negated. And our ability to contribute our best talent is affected by whether we feel safe from pending layoff and whether others recognize our skills. Success at teamwork is often determined by whether we deal with these issues or not. 

The above excerpt was provided by Dr. Faith Ralston.  Please order her book Hidden Dynamics here. 

Faith Ralston is a consultant and psychologist.  Before starting her own company, Faith was the Manager of Organizational Development at Honeywell, Inc.

Faith combines 20 years of quality and organizational change experience with a strong intuitive ability and practical solutions.  Specifically, Faith coaches leaders on the human dynamics of organizational life, and building high levels of trust and teamwork throughout the organization.

For more information on how Dr. Ralston's services may help your organization, please visit her Contributor Page, or her own homepage at Faith Ralston.com.

For further discussion of the impact Emotional Intelligence has in the workplace, see:

• Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organization by Robert Cooper and Ayman Sawaf
• Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

 

Hidden Dynamics 1995 Hardcover Edition	Sorry, this title not available

 

Search	Find Books  Keywords
Search	Find Books  Keywords