What is the Emotional Experience of Your Company TM?
An Underappreciated Key to Success
Any seasoned #business leader understands the significance of company culture. Yet, the focus predominantly remains on the cognitive aspect—the shared intellectual values, norms, artifacts, and assumptions that dictate how employees think and act in the #workplace.
While this is an undeniably crucial aspect of building a conducive work environment, it presents an incomplete picture. The real question I often ask is: What is the emotional experience of your company?
Emotional Experience
Emotional experience, the underappreciated component of company culture, governs the feelings people have and express at work. It is the invisible web of emotions that intertwines with the day-to-day operations and forms the basis of the work environment. It is primarily conveyed through non-verbal cues such as body language, facial expressions and self-talk, yet affects a host of dimensions including employee satisfaction, burnout, teamwork, and even sales, profits, expenses, and absenteeism.
When managers fail to understand their company's emotional experience, they risk neglecting a vital part of their organization. This could potentially result in their employees feeling disconnected and unappreciated, and the overall company culture suffering.
Healing Emotional Experience
For instance, in a healthcare setting where compassion should be the cornerstone, a lack of emotional connection can lead to indifference. In security firms or investment banks, the absence of a healthy dose of fear can encourage reckless behavior. This can severely impact the organization, especially during periods of change or downturns.
This is where emotional intelligence (EI) training comes into play. These active training sessions are comprehensive, incorporating informational presentations, role-play scenarios, group discussions, and Q&A sessions. They equip employees with the tools to build an empathetic and rewarding work #culture, ultimately resulting in better communication, increased empathy, and more efficient workflow.
However, improving the emotional experience isn't just about promoting happiness among employees—it's about fostering an environment that prevents pervasive issues. A healthy emotional experience within a company doesn't merely create cheerful employees; it prevents the birth of a culture plagued with anger, indifference, or recklessness.
Leaders Can Have Greatest Impact
Leaders at all levels should actively set the emotional tone, making it a deliberate effort in emails, meetings, face-to-face interactions, and more. They should consider each interaction as an opportunity to improve the emotional culture using EI awareness of self, others and situations.
The emotional experience of your company might seem a soft aspect in the grand scheme of corporate operations, but it forms the very backbone of your organization's culture. When nurtured, it can lead to better #performance, lower costs, and even provide a competitive edge—transforming your company culture from ordinary to extraordinary.
With training in emotional management, empathy, and synchronization, companies can achieve unprecedented #excellence, creating a rewarding emotional experience for everyone. It's time to recognize and leverage the power of emotions to transform the corporate landscape. After all, feelings matter—sometimes, just as much as facts. (c) Carlos Raposo Coaching, LLC. 2023 All rights reserved.
Carlos Raposo works with companies of all sizes in many industries to help bring an improved #communication climate and rewarding self awareness to the entire firm. Your people will perform far better with his inspired training in emotional management, empathy, and synchronization to more easily reach impressive excellence.