141. Emotional Contagion at Work with Prina Shah

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Hello, and welcome to this episode of Ways to Change the Workplace with myself Prina Cha. I love what I do. I'm a global leadership coach, a consultant, a trainer, a keynote speaker, a podcaster. I help you to develop your leaders, your teams, and I help you to optimize your organizational cultures. I'm here to help you find ways to change your workplace. Why? Because we spend more time in our waking day at work than we do with our loved ones. It has to be a good place to be. So in this podcast, you can expect a mix of interviews with amazing thought leaders and then some solo episodes from myself as well. Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Ways to Change Your Workplace podcast. I am your host, Prina Shah, and it's a solo episode today with just you and me. And today we are diving into a fascinating and crucial topic: emotional contagion at work. It is a thing, people, you know it, I know it, so let's discuss it. Emotions play a significant role in shaping our experiences, interactions, and overall workplace culture. So understanding emotional contagion and its impact can help us to create healthier and better environments. So let's get started. Let's define emotional contagion first off. I talk about it at length when I'm helping toxic teams or not so great teams to become better. Okay, so emotional contagion refers to the phenomenon where one person's emotions and related behaviors directly trigger similar emotions and behaviors in others. I can simplify as monkey see, monkey do, or you can think about it. You know, you walk into this meeting room and you can feel the energy. Yes, it might sound woo-woo, but you can cut the tension in the air. You can really feel it, right? So this can happen both consciously and unconsciously, because we are naturally inclined to mimic and synchronize with the emotions of the people around us. So think about it. The people that are around you on a daily basis are your team when we're in the workplace. So, in the workplace, emotional contagion can significantly influence a team's dynamics, productivity, and overall morale. And think about it from an organizational culture perspective, if we go even macro, it can impact your organizational culture positively or negatively. So let's look at some examples of emotional contagion in the workplace, both good and bad. I want to start with a good example first. Imagine a team leader who is consistently positive, enthusiastic, and encouraging in a realistic manner, right? We have a good bullshit detector. So this team leader is consistently positive, enthusiastic, and encouraging genuinely. Their upbeat attitude can spread throughout the whole team, boosting morale, increasing motivation, and fostering a collaborative and supportive environment. You've seen it, I've seen it. And this posity can lead to higher levels of engagement and productivity. We've all experienced it. Now, let's flip it. Let's talk about the bad example. So conversely, consider a manager who often displays stress, frustration, and negativity. This negative emotional state can permeate the whole team, leading to increased tension, reduced morale, and definitely decreased productivity. Team members may feel demotivated, anxious, and less likely to work together effectively. I've talked about this in past podcasts. I had a manager when I used to work in corporate days where my team would text me beforehand, before I even got into the office, say good morning to blah blah manager today, or a warning, do not say good morning to blah blah manager today, because it was really mood dependent. And the whole team were walking on eggshells. Now, this is me talking about a manager, for example, but it could be a colleague as well, it could be your peers, it could be your you know your project team, you name it in terms of the emotional contagion that we take on. So I want to give you a couple of analogies as well. So imagine a ripple effect. Think of emotions as pebbles dropped into that pond. That initial impact creates ripples that spread outward, affecting the entire body of water. Similarly, one person's emotions can ripple through a whole team, influencing everyone's mood and behavior. Emotional weather is another analogy I want to talk to. So emotions in the workplace can be likened to weather patterns, just as a sunny day can lift our spirits and a stormy day can dampen them, positive, or negative emotional states can influence the overall climate of our workplace. And then another final analogy for you. Emotional viruses. Emotions can spread like viruses. Let me say that again. Emotions can spread like viruses. Just as a cold can be caught and passed on to others, emotions can be caught from colleagues and spread throughout the team. Positive emotions can act like a healthy immune system, while negative emotions can spread like an illness. I know which one I'd prefer. I reckon I know you do what you would like to. So, how can emotional contagion affect organizational culture? Hugely so, and this is what I deal with a lot of the time when I'm dealing with organizational culture at the higher level, and I'm consulting organizations who want to improve their organizational cultures. Okay, so emotional contagion plays a pivotal role in shaping our organizational culture. When positive emotions and positive real emotions are present, they contribute to a culture of trust, of cooperation, of creativity, and so much more. Because employees feel valued, motivated, and engaged, which leads to better overall results at work, right? As well as our own job satisfaction on the flip side. When negative emotions dominate, that can create a toxic environment, and this can result in high levels of stress, increased absenteeism, high turnover rates. So a negative culture marred by negativity can stifle creativity, it definitely will hinder communication, as I have seen repeatedly, and ultimately is going to harm your organization's overall success. So, what to do regarding negative emotional contagion? If negative emotional contagion is affecting your team and your organizational culture, it's essential to address it promptly. So I've got some steps you can consider and you can pick and mix to see what would suit you. So number one, identify the source, determine where the negative emotions are coming from. Is it a particular individual, a specific situation, or is it a general atmosphere? What's creating the funk? Open that can of worms. Please do not ignore it. Point number two, communicate openly, encourage open and honest communication. Create safe spaces for team members to express their concerns and feelings without a fear of retribution. Now here I'm talking about psychological safety and all of the good stuff. I'm not gonna bang on about that, you know, all about it. Okay. Number three, we ourselves have to model positive behavior. So whether you're the leader, whether you're within the team, whether you're on the project team, whatever. Set the tone by modeling positive behavior, show empathy, provide support, and maintain a calm and optimistic outlook. Even when shit is hitting the fan. It's okay. Keep calm and carry on, as they say in the UK. But in this manner, keep calm and carry on at work. Alright. Number four, provide support. Offer resources such as counseling, stress management workshops, and team building activities to help employees manage their emotions. So when I run emotional contagion kind of sessions for teams, I really get into the nitty-gritty of it. And firstly, I try to understand what's happening, what the problem really is, where it's coming from, or what the source of the trigger is, or what the sources of the triggers are, because it could be more than one thing, right? So really try to understand it and then provide the support for it. So that's what I have in terms of what to do regarding negative emotional contagion for you. I want to give you some extra practical tips as well to mitigate and manage negative emotional contagion within your workplace. Number one, you have to have regular check-ins. Schedule regular one-to-ones and team check-ins to gauge the emotional temperature and address issues early. So I've got a really good one-to-one meeting planner. If you need it and you're listening to this episode, my details are in the show notes. Drop me an email and say, Prina, I want the one-to-one meeting planner. I will send it to you for free. It is all good. So the other thing I said in this uh statement is to schedule regular team check-ins as well. One of the things that I do are team optimization sessions, and that's meeting as a team just once a quarter to really talk about the strategic issues, the cans of worms issues, and anything else that you need to that you don't get to in your business as usual everyday life. So team optimization sessions are really, really important as well. There's a lot to be said about point number two mindfulness or emotional intelligence training. So implement mindfulness and emotional intelligence or even resilience training to employees to manage their emotions effectively. I've done this once I have understood what the source of the problem is, and really there's so much information out there and so many wonderful facilitators out there that this is well within your reach. Number three, people need recognition and appreciation. So we need to regularly recognize and appreciate our employees' efforts, our peers' efforts, our team's efforts and achievements to foster a positive environment. We can be all too quick to jump on to the next project without actually having a celebration and appreciation of what we have achieved. Point number four. Equip your people with conflict resolution skills to handle disagreements constructively. Now, one of the biggest things I hear from everybody that I deliver training to is I don't like conflict. Or who the fuck does? But hello, you're a grown-up and you need to deal with it. So, leader, team member, peer, project manager, whatever you are, learn how to deal with conflict and use your adult words. If you are unsure, please reach out to me because this is something that I really love doing and upskilling people on. And then point number five is about positive reinforcement. Reinforce positive behaviors and attitudes, uh, attitudes through rewards and incentives. Now, I'm not talking about you know uh manipulating people, but yeah, you'll have internal systems at work. There will be staff awards, there will be recognition systems or whatever. Create your own as well. I've written at length on you know non-monetary ways to positively reinforce your team. Um, so go find out what you need to do and really try and nip the negative emotional contagion in the bud because once that spreads, it's like a pandemic. Pun intended. Okay, summary. Let me find finalize everything for you. So, in summary, emotional contagion is a powerful force in the workplace. Emotional contagion is capable if of influencing organizational culture and team dynamics. While positive emotional contagion can enhance all of the good stuff, negative emotional contagion can have super detrimental effects. So by recognizing the impacts of emotions and taking proactive steps to manage them, we can all foster a healthier and more positive work environment. And that's one way to find decent ways to change your workplace. So thank you for tuning in to this episode. Understanding and addressing emotional contagion is essential for creating a thriving workplace culture. Remember, as leaders, as team members, and as employees, we have the power to influence the emotional climate of our teams. Let's use that power wisely to build workplaces where everyone can flourish. I will see you in the next episode. If not on LinkedIn, if not on Instagram, I will see you then. Take care and keep being brilliant. Until the next time. How good was that episode? If you liked it, be sure to share it with a couple of other people. Also, in the show notes are details about my newsletter. Keep in touch. I send a newsletter out around once a month. It won't be spammy, it will be very practical. And if we're not connected on LinkedIn yet, we must be connect with me on LinkedIn. And on Instagram, I am prina.sharp. I will see you somewhere else or in the next episode. Until then, goodbye.