How to Handle Your Emotions at Work | Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy
Sep 11, 2023
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Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy dive into the challenges of handling emotions at work, emphasizing the need for a middle path. They discuss the importance of acknowledging and understanding emotions, the role of psychological safety in effective teams, and strategies for creating a safe and inclusive workplace. They also reflect on their own experiences of burnout and power differentials in the workplace.
Overcommitment to work can lead to burnout and a lack of perspective, so finding meaning and joy outside of work is important for a healthy work-life balance.
Motivation at work can be improved by creating autonomy, defining outcomes, taking breaks, allowing for creativity, and approaching tasks with enthusiasm and pride.
Acknowledging and managing emotions effectively can lead to better decision-making and improved communication and collaboration within teams.
Establishing psychological safety through open discussions, active listening, encouraging vulnerability, and ensuring equal participation and inclusion is crucial for a positive and productive work environment.
Deep dives
Be Less Passionate About Your Job
It is important to be less overly invested and passionate about your job in order to maintain a balanced life. Overcommitment to work can lead to burnout and a lack of perspective, making small setbacks feel like major failures. Finding meaning and joy outside of work, such as spending time with loved ones or engaging in hobbies, can help create a healthy work-life balance and prevent over-dependence on a single source of fulfillment.
Inspire Yourself
Motivation at work is essential, and finding ways to inspire yourself can improve productivity and satisfaction. This can involve creating autonomy in your work, defining outcomes rather than processes, and finding personal meaning in what you do. Taking breaks, allowing for creativity, and approaching tasks with enthusiasm and pride can all contribute to a more fulfilling and motivating work experience.
Emotion is Part of the Equation
Emotions are a natural and integral part of decision-making and interactions at work. Suppressing or ignoring emotions can lead to poor decision-making and strained relationships. Acknowledging and understanding emotions can provide valuable insight into personal motivations, needs, and values. By considering and managing emotions effectively, individuals can make better decisions and improve communication and collaboration within teams.
Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is crucial for creating a positive and productive work environment. It involves fostering an atmosphere where everyone feels safe to express ideas, admit mistakes, and take risks without fear of judgment or punishment. Managers play a significant role in establishing psychological safety within their teams. They can promote open discussions, actively listen to feedback, encourage vulnerability, and ensure equal participation and inclusion. Micro-actions, such as pronouncing names correctly and expressing gratitude, can also contribute to creating a psychologically safe space.
Recognizing complementary strengths for efficient collaboration
The podcast episode highlights the importance of recognizing and leveraging complementary strengths in a collaborative work environment. The hosts discuss their experience of initially struggling with their different editing styles but eventually finding a more efficient hand-off process. By valuing each other's contributions and embracing their unique strengths, they were able to complete their work faster and more effectively.
Building trust through open communication and validation
The podcast emphasizes the significance of open communication and validation in building trust within teams. The hosts discuss the importance of bringing up potential issues or concerns before they escalate, establishing mutual respect, and creating a safe environment for dialogue. By proactively addressing conflicts or potential misunderstandings, team members can work through challenges together, strengthening relationships and ensuring the overall success of the project.
Understanding emotional expression and culture in the workplace
The podcast explores the role of emotional expression and culture within a work environment. The hosts discuss how emotional expression can have an impact that cascades throughout the workplace, affecting team dynamics and overall morale. They also highlight the importance of recognizing cultural differences in emotional expression, as different cultures may have varying norms and expectations. Selective vulnerability is also discussed as a balance between expressing emotions appropriately while maintaining professionalism and building trust within teams.
These seven rules illustrate a middle path between completely stifling your emotions and bringing your whole self to the office.
Liz Fosslien is an expert on emotions at work and is also on the leadership team at Atlassian's Team Anywhere and previously served as the head of content and communications at Humu. She has been featured by TED, The Economist, Good Morning America, The New York Times, and NPR.
Mollie West Duffy is also the head of Learning and Development at Lattice, and was previously an Organizational Design Lead at global innovation firm IDEO, and a research associate for the Dean of Harvard Business School. She has worked with companies of all sizes on organizational development, leadership development, and workplace culture.
