Leading Beyond the Numbers

Emotions at work: irrational, or invaluable?

For centuries we have divided mind and body, valuing reason over emotion. But new research is fundamentally changing our understanding about how our brains and body work. What might be possible when we leverage both our reason AND emotion?

Improving your emotional awareness will enhance your performance. Collaboration relies on connection, and genuine connection relies on our ability to communicate with one another effectively, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Leadership development coach and former finance director Susan Ní Chríodáin, fluent in both the traditional language of business and the language of workplace emotion, reveals how to build more meaningful relationships at work so both you and your organization profit.

Emotions at work: irrational, or invaluable?

For centuries we have divided mind and body, valuing reason over emotion. But new research is fundamentally changing our understanding about how our brains and body work. What might be possible when we leverage both our reason AND emotion?

Improving your emotional awareness will enhance your performance. Collaboration relies on connection, and genuine connection relies on our ability to communicate with one another effectively, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Leadership development coach and former finance director Susan Ní Chríodáin, fluent in both the traditional language of business and the language of workplace emotion, reveals how to build more meaningful relationships at work so both you and your organization profit.

Foreword by Matt Phelan, co-founder of The Happiness Index and author of Freedom to be Happy: The Business Case for Happiness and of the forthcoming book The Happiness Index: Why today’s emotions equal tomorrow’s business success. (tbc)

Introduction For centuries a battle has raged between emotion and reason, leading us to value thinking over feeling and mind over body. For many of us that has resulted in us relying on and developing our cognitive intelligence whilst diminishing our capacity to access and develop our other forms of intelligence. It isn’t our fault; we were conditioned that way. Until as recently as the 1980s emotions were viewed by scientists as insignificant – merely a nuisance or noise – and best ignored. Recent scientific developments challenge conventional thinking on the intelligence of our bodies including how emotions are made, what the primary role of emotion is and, most importantly for the workplace, how emotions influence our performance and profitability.

Part 1: Why Account for Emotions? 1. A Growing (or Going) Concern? According to a 2022 Gallup Report 81% of people are disengaged at work globally. People are not contributing their best and this has an impact on the bottom line. Our productivity is largely driven by how we feel about ourselves, our work, our colleagues and our organisations. Leaving emotions out of the workplace equation has resulted in an epidemic of disengagement, mistrust and conflict. Burnout and busyness plague organisational life and are a growing global concern. Burnout drains our energy and depletes our resources leaving us unable to sustain our optimal performance levels. Busyness prevents us from taking a step back to really understand the underlying root causes of disengagement and the resources humans need to continue operating indefinitely.
How do we strike a balance? Imagine what might be possible if people felt differently about themselves and their work?

1. Culture at Work – Profit … or Loss – It’s Contagious Organisational culture is a set of shared values, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions. Organisational culture is a proxy for the emotional state of an organisation, or the collective emotional state of people who work there. This is largely influenced by those in positions of authority. Emotional contagion is a powerful phenomenon at work in our organisations as moods and feelings can synchronise and spread across groups and impact performance. It’s our loss when we don’t acknowledge this on an organisational level. The Financial Statements are a set of reports that can be used to analyse an organisation’s financial health, position and performance. There is a direct relationship between people’s performance and the performance of the organisation. Therefore, the Financial Statements can also provide us with an analysis of the emotional health of an organisation. How can we profit from accounting for our emotions?

Part 2: Human Beings 3. Accounting for the Brain at Work An overview of how our brain works drawing from recent developments in neuroscience, like neuroplasticity and the work of Lisa Feldman Barrett on the predictive nature of our brain. An explanation of what our brain has evolved to do and how the brain’s most important role is running a budget for the body. Introducing affect (mood) as a simple accounting for how we feel and an overview of how emotions are made.

1. Accounting for the Body at Work An overview of the various systems of the body – heart, gut, movement and the nervous system. An exploration of how our bodies process our internal transactions (workings) and data (sensations) and the value of connecting more with our body at work. An introduction to the concepts of awareness, embodiment and trauma.

2. Systems Integration for Self-Regulation In many organisations we operate within silos, unaware of the value of leveraging the wisdom and knowledge available. Departments might compete with one another for scarce resources. And some people might intimidate or undermine others intentionally or unintentionally. We leave things unspoken, unexplored and unresolved. This shapes how we relate to one another and has an impact on creativity and innovation. We are disconnected from ourselves and others. We don’t always connect what is going on in our body with the situation we are in, especially when faced with uncertainty or perceived threats. Our internal data may not always be accurate. By tuning into what is going on in our body and revaluing the data we can become more resourceful and distinguish between feeling unsafe or just uncomfortable. With a greater sense of self, we can self-regulate and move through complexity, difficulty, tension and uncertainty more confidently.

Part 3: Being Human

1. I’m Only Human: Not Rational or Emotional but Rational and Emotional The cost to us of either-or rather than both-and approaches. Gain a greater understanding of the role our emotions play in our attention, creativity, decision-making, effectiveness, interactions, learning, performance, thinking and well-being. How increasing our emotional vocabulary pays dividends.

2. Reconciling Brain, Body and Behaviour Not everything needs to be measured to be of value or to count. A case for investing in continued professional emotional development and creating more emotionally aware workplaces. How we, those we lead, and our organisations can profit by combining the intelligence of our brain and body to improve our energy, motivation, collaboration and performance. The benefits of slowing things down to speed up.

3. Accounting for Emotions There is beauty in balancing a set of financial statements. The intricacies that underpin the workings are wonderous. The real beauty is seeing people be their best selves. The intricacies that underpin our workings are wondrous too, and not one particular combination, input or formula will ever generate the same result. Create your unique formula:

• How do you manage your energy reserves?
• What, or who, drains your resources and replenishes them?
• Do you know how to value your intangibles – strengths, values?
• Did you know that discomfort and tension is akin to a metabolic tax?
• What is the return on investment of maintaining an optimal level of health?
• What is the impact of cumulative losses?
• Should you make a profit at any cost?
• What is your unique formula?

Part 4: Business Sense & Sensibility 9. Why Doesn’t Everyone Just Get Along – Who is Accountable and Who is Responsible? Start with you. The ability to self-regulate is the key to greater confidence and competence and building better relationships. Are you emotionally agile? What are you like as a leader of people? Do you know how to collaborate with others effectively? What are you contributing to your working relationships? Do the people you work with feel safe, feel respected and feel a sense of belonging? By being more emotionally aware you can influence the emotional state of your workplace. What is the impact for hybrid workplaces?

1. It’s More Than a Feeling We don’t create feelings of belonging, respect or safety in our organisations by talking about them. We need to walk the talk. Evidence and case-studies from organisations who walk the talk.

The Bottom Line: Emotions Tip the Balance at Work Emotions guide what we do at work. By dismissing the most unique element of what makes us human as noise or interference we have failed to generate the best behaviours to enable better collaboration, creativity, decisions, performance, relationships, results and workplaces. Connecting mind and body and embedding a both-and approach pays dividends. We are all shaped by our experiences, but we have the ability to reshape ourselves and our futures. Investing in elevating the role of our emotions will increase revenue and retention and decrease conflict, disengagement and mistrust.

Further Resources Acknowledgments

FORMAT / ISBN / PUBLICATION DATE / RRP

Paperback / 9781788605106 / May 14, 2024 / £14.99

Ebook / 9781788605120 / May 13, 2024 / £7.99

Susan Ní Chríodáin

Susan Ní Chríodáin, founder of consultancy Beyond the Numbers, is an award-winning chartered accountant with a Big 4 background. Through a career that spanned three continents and a range of leadership roles, she learned that success demands bravery, boldness and building strong working relationships; technical skills are only half the story. Learning to take responsibility for her own emotional state accelerated her ability to connect meaningfully with others.
Her MSc in Political Science showed her that the identity and culture of groups is heavily influenced by feelings. Working as a leadership coach and facilitator and undertaking various related courses opened her eyes to how we can all better leverage the power of our emotions.
Driven by the numbers of people who are disengaged at work, she is committed to creating more emotionally aware workplaces. Her popular podcast, Life Beyond the Numbers, is for people who are curious about having a more fulfilling work-life.