8/5/2023 0 Comments Sad emotionWhile doing research at the Technical University of Munich, the scholar Tanja Schwarzmüller wondered what could explain this seeming contradiction. Brent Smith found that showing sorrow rather than anger sometimes creates better outcomes for leaders, including stronger relationships with their employees and being viewed as more effective. Yet a 2009 study by the management professors Juan Madera and D. Those who behave angrily during challenging situations are typically seen as more influential than those who react sadly. Researchers know that the emotions bosses express affect workers’ perception of how powerful they are. “Psychologists call this ‘amplification.’ Like that delicious chocolate cake in the refrigerator, the more you try to ignore it … the greater its hold on you.”Ĭreating workplaces that make space for these feelings may require rethinking ideals of leadership itself. “When emotions are pushed aside or ignored, they get stronger,” she says in a popular TED Talk. The bereavement expert Kenneth Doka calls these losses-the kind we feel we have no permission to mourn-“disenfranchised griefs.” And according to David, suppressing these types of feelings can backfire and leave workers depleted long after they leave the office. It’s okay to openly grieve the death of a spouse or parent, but much riskier to share the struggles of a breakup, office politics, or financial worry, for example. We endure way more than we should, and can, because we downplay what it’s actually doing to us.”Ĭertain kinds of distress are more socially acceptable to express at work than others, Kanov said via email. “But we don’t feel allowed to acknowledge that we suffer. “There’s an unspectacular mundane suffering that pervades the workplace,” Kanov told me. They were anxious but said they were angry they were sad but said they were frustrated. They found that although the transcripts were full of stories of pain and sorrow at work-panic attacks, injured relationships, feelings of devaluation-the interview subjects rarely used words related to those emotions. In one informal project, the CompassionLab scholars Jason Kanov and Laura Madden combed through employee interviews that Kanov had conducted for a previous study on social disconnection. Soon after, Frost and some of his colleagues founded the CompassionLab, dedicated to “a new vision of organizations as sites for the development and expression of compassion.” The leadership researcher Peter Frost identified the problem of workplace positivity in his 1999 paper “Why Compassion Counts!” He quoted the Buddha’s purported observation that suffering is “an inevitable part of the human condition,” yet noted that suffering is ignored in most offices. Read: The dark side of saying work is ‘like a family’ In a business culture that once demanded positivity, a new set of norms is slowly emerging. Last year, the organizational psychologist Adam Grant devoted an entire episode of his WorkLife podcast to the idea that “we should allow sad days, not just sick days.” Management scholars have even started to highlight the unique advantages of leaders who express sorrow. Harvard Business Review now regularly runs articles on the virtues of compassionate leadership. (Crown)įortunately, change seems to be under way. This article was adapted from Susan Cain's new book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |