The Power of Emotions

How to Capture a Good Mood

Life is full of occasions when the mood of a group or team changes without realising it, this leads to a corresponding change in performance. This article explains how we can choose which emotions to use and which to fend off.

There are two points to consider:

1. There are plenty of studies showing the relationship between emotions and performance. Emotions vary in intensity and direction ranging from lethargic and unhappy to happy and excited. Studies suggest that positive, pleasant emotions enhance performance whereas unpleasant and negative emotions hinder performance.

The theory that emotions have motivational implications is highly convincing, therefore feeling excited and happy is motivating while feeling unhappy and lethargic is de-motivating leads to the principle that there are times when we might want to be able to capture positive emotions and avoid the negative ones.

2. The second point is that emotions are inherently social and that we are all embedded in social networks that can influence our emotional state. It is rare that we experience an emotion without some influence from someone else. This can be either by direct interaction in a meeting or a conversation or in anticipation of a meeting or conversation with a colleague, manager, partner etc.

We need to understand that some people are positioned in our social network in a way that can influence us more effectively than others, be it positively or negatively.

The question is can we choose how we feel and can the social network affect this?

Does our emotional state prior to and post any interaction depend partly on the people we are connected to? This article answer that the answer is yes., and if emotional states impact on performance as evidence suggests then the members of our social network whether they are friends or colleagues can be crucial for success.

Capturing Emotions in a Social Network

The basic structure of a social network is two people. Pairs consist of colleagues, family, friends, partners etc and the relationship between the pair is equal. Each person can influence and be influenced by the feelings of the other.

A team is a collection of basic networks, for example a manager and their team will have a relationship with most of the people in the team and every individual can contribute to the collective mood of the team.

The collective mood is the common mood state of all individuals involved. Research shows that an individuals emotional state can be influenced by the collective mood of the team. If several individuals report feeling happier this tends to influence the mood in a positive direction with the feel good factor transferring to the rest of the team. This can obviously work in reverse.

The potential implication is that the emotional state of the team can be influenced and improved by enhancing the mood state of one member. Once the majority of the team feel that they are improving performance this will enhance the mood of the team. This therefore provides the potential for a manager/team leader to improve the emotional state of their team by positively encouraging one member of the team.

Key Influencers

Evidence also suggests of a team also have a disproportionate influence on the emotional state of the team. This appears to be evident when team members look to the influential members of the team on what the required emotional response should be. An example is when a new team member looks to their experienced colleagues for an indication of how to respond to the manager when they are in a negative emotional state themselves due to time constraints. If their colleagues look calm and relaxed the new member will look to manage their own emotional state to mirror this positive emotion. If team members are aware that emotions can be transferred they can then use transfer techniques to their advantage and minimize any potential negative effect.

Capturing Emotions

The transfer of emotions is a complex process with a number of factors to consider. An individuals emotional state can only be partly influenced by the emotions of others and researched shows that individuals can develop self management techniques and these can be used in intervention work.

The good news is that anyone can learn to manage their own emotional state and there is growing evidence that techniques such as positive self-talk/positive affirmations and visualization can positively enhance emotional states and performance. Other techniques such as “As If” can provide ways to imagine what it will be like to feel positive and perform at your best.

Summary

Negative emotions spread like a virus infecting team members and de-motivating them. By being aware of the impact of your emotions on others and of the effect of others emotions on you, you can identify triggers and use these techniques to intervene and dissolve the negative effect of unwanted emotions and therefore maintain the positive influence of improved performance.