Mental Health Blogs

3-tips-for-developing-emotional-intelligence

3 Tips for Developing Your Team’s Emotional Intelligence

06/02/2017

As many as one in five Australian workers suffers from a mental illness such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis, or substance abuse. And it’s not surprising that the majority are reluctant to tell their co-workers for fear of being treated differently. Which is why it’s critical that managers promote workplace mental health by mitigating factors that could trigger someone’s symptoms and propel him or her into ill health.

The Detrimental Impact of a Lack of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Fortunately, most people interact professionally with their colleagues, even if they don’t always understand their motivations or moods. However, there’s one type of team member that isn’t likely to respond in a mature manner: someone who has a lack of emotional intelligence or emotional quotient (EQ). While people like this can be talented and productive, their inability to empathise with others can create uncomfortable working relationships and sometimes escalate into full-blown conflicts. This in turn results in damaged relationships, a stressful work environment, compromised performance, and even high turnover.

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

The Benefits of Developing Emotional Intelligence

Instead of leaders having to deal with the fallout of these kinds of situations (fighting fires), it’s much more conducive in the long run to develop emotional intelligence in those team members who have a low EQ. This offers the following benefits:

Better interactions with co-workers (not only those suffering from mental illness) resulting in a more productive work environment, enhanced performance, increased productivity—and ultimately reduced turnover.

Better people skills on the part of the formerly immature workers, which provides them with the essential soft skills to advance their careers. In the long term, this justifies the company’s investment of time and resources in them.

3 Tips for Developing a Team Member’s EQ

Admittedly, developing a team member’s EQ is easier said than done. The individual has to want to change in order to truly develop. Even so, keep the following tips in mind:

Integrate EQ development with the employee’s career coaching. This provides you with a relevant framework to address the issue.

Determine the team member’s career objective. Find out which goals are important to him or her.

Explain why positive relationships are crucial to achieving his or her goals. Focus on how mutual respect and strong network connections play an essential role in advancing.

Provide a factual analysis of what the team member needs to learn and how it will benefit him or her. This can include empathy, non-verbal cues, and self-assessment. For example, if the worker has previously sparked conflict by being rude to, or appearing to ‘ride’ a colleague, explain how this behaviour is damaging to the colleague and reflects poorly on the leadership credibility (current or future) of the offending team member. Then brainstorm alternative ways to respond and how that would benefit the team member. For example, offering to assist the colleague would get the job done while simultaneously building the team member’s reputation as a supportive team player.

Our Building Resilience at Work course is something to consider for building the EQ of your team. It’s designed to build mental strength, stamina and emotional mastery so you can get on with business.

Developing a team member’s EQ isn’t easy—but it can be done. And in the long run, creating an emotionally intelligent workforce will benefit both your team members and your organisation.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organisations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

4 Leadership Styles Every Leader Needs to Know

31/01/2017

Have you ever given feedback to a team member and felt it wasn’t received well? Or communicated the outcome you want, and what’s eventually delivered doesn’t resemble what you asked for?

Giving constructive feedback and direction is a critical skill for all leaders, but it’s not always easy to do. You want to balance the need to achieve outcomes with maintaining a great relationship, knowing it’s inevitable that team members will get it wrong sometimes.

The key is to use the correct leadership style for the person you are leading. A great tool to help you do this is the Competence / Confidence Matrix, adapted from research done way back in the 70’s. But unlike your safari suit, this model has stood the test of time.

1. High commitment / Low competence: Guide and coach

This might a new person on the team – a recent graduate or even an experienced player who isn’t yet familiar with how your team goes about things.

Discuss and decide on ways of doing things
Identify and provide the training needed
Accept early mistakes as important opportunities for coaching
Give responsibility and authority for the aspects of tasks the person can do
Require frequent updates early in the project, but relax control as progress is shown

2. High commitment, High competence: Delegate & release

These are your proven performers. The worst thing you can do is make them feel micro-managed.

Involve the person in decision-making
Frequently as the person for opinions
Give responsibility and authority because the person is competent and committed
Ask for updates at important moments or when the person has questions

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

3. Low commitment, Low competence: Direct & tell

You don’t want people in this category for long. You may be able to help them increase their competence or commitment, or it may be time to break up.

Discuss what would motivate the person and agree on what’s possible
Set clear rules, methods and deadlines
Give responsibility and authority for aspects of the task the person can do
Plan tasks in such a way that ensures the person has some success quickly
Identify & provide the training needed
Require frequent updates early in the project, but relax control as progress is shown

4. Low commitment, High competence: Excite & inspire

Your mission is to find out why their commitment is flagging. Are they looking for a new challenge, or are they disengaged with you, the team, or the company?

Discuss why the task is important and why the person is the right choice
Discuss what would motivate the person and what’s possible
Give responsibility and authority because the person is competent
Require frequent updates

Thinking back on recent interactions that went well, was there a relationship between the style you used and the competence and confidence of the team member? What about interactions that didn’t go well – might a different style have produced better results?

Delegating, directing and managing performance is something we all struggle with at times. Even highly experienced leaders come across people they just can’t figure out, or regardless of how consciously they try, where any interaction with the person just ends up pushing buttons! But know that engaging and developing the skills of team members is the cornerstone of good leadership and your genuine efforts today are influencing the next generation of leaders who are currently under your mentorship.

Author: Peter Diaz

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

The Art of Managing Upwards

18/01/2017

Sometimes, it’s easy to get too comfortable in your career, isn’t it? You come to a time where you can do everything that is expected of you easily, without a lot of stress. But, beware! you can, at this point start to feel a little less satisfaction. You may feel that you are not being challenged. Or, you can worry that you will stagnate in your career and never move up to the heights you are capable of. What you need to do then is this: get good at managing up. Managing up refers to stretching yourself in your job. Instead of focusing on just what needs to get done to fulfill your duties, look at what needs to happen to help your company as a whole and you in your career grow. It means taking on additional tasks that make your manager’s life easier and make you a more valuable part of the enterprise.

Why is Managing Upwards important?

If we just stick to our job descriptions, the people who work around us will never know our full capabilities and potential. It is too easy to get stagnated and stop moving forward in your career. By making managing up part of your philosophy and strategy, you can become more valuable to your department and the company.

It’s also good protection. If there is a down turn in your business, your industry or the economy as a whole, there will be times when cuts may need to be made. By showing that you are valuable and committed, you can increase your chances that you will be there to ride along on the next upswing.

And, more than anything else, it’s good for your mental health at work. When you come in dedicated to being valuable, you will feel more confident and happier about the work that you do. A sense that you are doing valuable work and helping to build something leads to higher job satisfaction. Since most of us spend a significant amount of our time at work, finding value there enhances every part of our lives.

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

5 Tips for Succeeding at Managing Up

Once you’ve decided that managing up is part of your strategy, you need to figure out how to succeed at it. If you are going to keep your efforts productive, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Get to know and understand your manager.

You and your manager need to be able to communicate clearly. You need to understand what their priorities are and what they want from the people who work with them. If you do not understand what your manager means, for instance, when they ask for a task to be completed, take the time to learn. And, know what your manager prefers. For instance, many people do not like to hear new ideas unless there is data to back it up. Make sure you give your manager what they need to be able to say ‘yes’.

2. Jump in where you are needed.

Don’t wait to be told that something needs to be done. When you observe a need, find a way to fulfill it. By jumping in, you show your willingness to take chances and your willingness to get things done.

3. Keep your boss informed.

Your manager is not a mind reader. Tell him regularly what you are working on and what you have accomplished. By keeping a running narrative, you can demonstrate your value to the company and begin to move up.

4. Work on building relationships.

Get to know the people in your company and in your industry. By making sure that people know who you are and the work ethic and ingenuity you bring to the job, the more likely they will think of you when new opportunities come up.

5. Keep things positive.

Sometimes, the most valuable thing you can be is someone who is easy and pleasant to work with. Stay out of company politics and drama. Keep complaining to a minimum when things do not go as planned. By making sure that you are easy to be around, you help ensure that you are the person people want to pick for new projects.

Managing up is not just doing a few extra things around the office. It’s a philosophical difference in how you relate at work. You will find that when you start looking at your career through this lens, you will feel happier, more fulfilled and more pleasantly challenged in your work.

Author: Peter Diaz

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

Workplace mental health must be given priority or else

17/01/2017

Recent Federal Court cases have raised serious questions around when directors may find themselves facing personal penalties. It appears directors may be personally liable for issues in the work place even if their company does not break any laws. If the company is found to be at risk of breaking any laws, then directors and business owners could be in trouble,” Mr Diaz said today.

These recent cases mark quite a change in the way directors, owners and managers are seen by the courts.

Mental health is a serious issue in the work place and becoming a bigger issue for businesses.

The increased pressure of cost cutting and doing more with less, is placing significant strain, stress and pressure on staff across the country.

Many Australian businesses are competing against multi-nationals who are able to source cheaper labour overseas and invest in technology to systemise and computerise activities normally undertaken by humans. As a result, jobs are being lost, outsourced and off-shored.

This level of change, pressure and disruption in the work place combined with more challenging front line issues is creating significant stress for workers and work places generally.

It is no surprise that the presence of mental health issues in the workplace is on the rise.

While many companies have targets and programs to deal with work place accidents and other issues such as bullying and harassment, most do not have programs to deal with mental health issues.

Mental health issues silently affect absenteeism, productivity, morale, customer service and many other areas of a business. In effect, they cause financial loss.

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

Unless companies start taking work place mental health seriously, we are going to see a rise in the number of claims against directors and business owners from staff who feel their mental health has been damaged due to poor work place practices or a lack of regard for the mental health of staff in the work place.

Managers are not trained to deal with mental health issues, they are trained to be managers and administrators. Their focus is generally operational and business related.

In the last few years, we have worked with many organisations to develop and implement programs to address and manage mental health issues in the work place.

Some of these have included organisations with large contingents of front line staff who are required to deal with angry and stressed members of the general public. Others include businesses where there is a fair degree of pressure, particularly sales environments.

Our work involves assisting organisations to identify the risks, implement programs, train managers and establish systems to enable monitoring and action.

Organisations must start incorporating mental health into their corporate wellness programs and implementing mental health management planning and support systems into their work place strategies to support staff at all levels. If they don’t directors and business owners may find themselves losing their homes or even worse, facing jail time. Mental health issues are just as serious as physical health issues, it is just that they can be a bit more difficult to recognise.

It’s time.

Author: Peter Diaz

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

5 Ways to Motivate Your Team for the New Year

12/01/2017

A lot of employees find that motivation drags most in the weeks after Christmas holidays. To get the new year off to a positive start, you need to have powerful motivation strategies in place. For most people, this doesn’t mean pep talks; when those work at all, their influence wears off pretty quickly. Instead, use these five tested techniques:

1. Listen to the people on your team & tell/show you value them.

The relationship between an employee and their direct manager is the most important factor that influences engagement and motivation. If it is an open and honest relationship, that sets the tone for everything that goes on in the workplace. Listening to the people who work with you is a big part of that. This means listening when they have concerns as well as being open to their ideas. When the people around you feel like they are heard, they feel like they are valued, as well.

Read more on workplace leadership and wellness strategies….

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

2. Learn what motivates each team member.

Some people really thrive on praise and feedback. Others are all about responsibility and freedom to get things done. Still others want a workplace where they feel that work/life balance is prized and protected. Learn what makes everyone you work with tick. By learning how they work and what drives them to do a job well, you can craft an environment that helps them be their best. Learning can come from a combination of closed-door, one on one meetings, surveys and questionnaires and simply observing people in action to see how they work best and what they respond to.

3. Make group goals.

Instead of always working to motivate each team member individually, create goals that everyone can work toward together. Make sure that everyone knows their roles and their responsibilities — remember, when more than one person is responsible for something, that can mean that no one is. Each person needs specific tasks and a way to check them off for accountability.

Goals should be broken down into milestones, short term goals and long term ones. Meet regularly to see where everyone is and what they need for the next steps or the bigger picture. Think about rewards for steps along the way. This combination of short and long term provides some reward for each step while helping keep focus on the larger, long term goal, which can help prevent fatigue. Making it easy for people to see small accomplishments help them drive toward larger ones and helps boost emotional and mental health at work.

4. Give team members responsibility.

People feel happiest at work when they know that they are important to an enterprise’s success. By giving people responsibility and the freedom to complete the work the way they want, it can help them take ownership of what they are doing. Allow different people to take leadership positions at different times. For instance, instead of a manager always leading meetings, ask different individuals on your staff to take charge. This allows different people to shape the discussion, giving you a variety of points of view. And, when this happens, people feel that their contributions are more important and are more likely to feel motivated about making them happen.

5. Show your team the bigger picture.

When people are just tasked with little pieces of the whole goal, their feeling about their importance might feel small, too. There is no value in deciding that information about the larger goals is over someone’s pay grade. Make sure that everyone knows what their contribution means to the success of the whole. Update regularly about how each of their tasks and projects works toward the organization’s bigger success.

This sort of transparency means that people know that the work they are doing means something. It helps them understand the value that they bring to the project. When people understand that, they feel more empowered and invested at work. They will do better work and feel more motivation each day to do it.

Keeping a team motivated is an ongoing task. It’s more than a few meetings or buzzwords. It comes down to a constant dedication to being the sort of leader who brings the best out of people. While that’s a big job, these are a few simple policies and actions to put into place to start. These and other tips to motivate your team can help make the coming new year a productive and fulfilling year.

Author: Peter Diaz

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

How Will You Lead Differently in the New Year

03/01/2017

There’s no one right style of leadership. Each manager needs to make decisions based on the people who make up her team and what works best for them. However, it’s also true that there is always room for improvement. And that’ll be time well spent since good leadership is strongly associated with improved results overall. The good news, it’s not that hard. By taking some time for some self-reflection and study, you can become a better leader in the new year.

Reflect on What Went Well

Figure out what your leadership wins were in last year so that you can build on them in the new year. This starts by writing down your own impressions of where you think you were successful. Think in terms of what you did that got you to a goal instead of just what was accomplished. Hint: you are looking for your own ‘pattern of success’ here.

You should also talk to employees and your manager to see what they think about the year we’ve just finished. What did they feel was especially effective? What did they find surprising or innovative?

… And on What Didn’t

None of us hit it out of the park every time. That’s ok. We are not supposed to. But we are supposed to take the opportunity to learn from what didn’t work. After writing down your wins, take some notes about what you felt did not go well. Were there times you fell short of goals? Times that you felt that you did not make yourself clearly understood to team members? Times you dropped the ball and didn’t delegate as well as you should?

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

When asking others for their impressions on where there was room for improvement, it can sometimes be better to allow people to be anonymous. Consider sending around a survey or putting out a box where people can drop notes about what they think could have gone better and their suggestions for the new year. One word of caution: make sure that you yourself get into a powerful state before you review feedback. Some of it will not be pleasant. Don’t make it personal even when it feels personal. Remember, you are a leader and the aim is to take what you can out of it and learn how to lead better, not to go into a pity party. If you need to vent, go and vent with someone you respect and can guide you with wisdom, such as your executive coach.

When you are looking at how you did, you should also look at metrics that spell out hits and misses in numbers. Were there more sick days in your department this year than in others? Did you have a higher average than other departments in the company? Were your rates of turnover higher than normal or about average for your company and your industry?

Look Outside for Inspiration

If there were situations that you did not feel you handled as well as possible or areas where you feel your team has untapped potential, look for ways to change or improve your leadership to bring out everyone’s best in the coming year.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is find an example of what we want to be. Modelling your style on the style of someone who you find successful can be an excellent place to start. By looking to others, you can adopt some of what gets them their great results. Who’s the leader you admire or like the most? What is it about them you like?

A leadership coach or a mentor can help provide actionable advice about how to take your current leadership strategies and tweak them to be more effective. These individuals will have the outside perspective you need to see what you are doing well and how you can improve.

Challenging yourself in the workplace is another way to make yourself a better leader, as well. When the people who work with you see you stretching, they often feel more confident about your abilities. You will also likely learn new skills that translate well into better leadership.

Communicate with Your Team

To be effective, change can’t be unilateral. If you want to change procedures in your workplace so that you are more effective, be sure to talk about this with your team. Get them meaningfully engaged. Explain where you feel you all are at the present time, what new results you want to see and what you see as the ways to get there. Make sure you ask them for their ideas and suggestions of what they feel will help you, as a team, get there. Remember – sudden changes can make people feel unsettled or even worried about their jobs. This sort of open communication makes people feel more at ease. It also helps them understand your expectations better so that they are more able to shape their efforts to fit your needs.

Better leadership is, in many ways, the result of deliberate and thoughtful choices. By making decisions based on what you want instead of being in a place where you are purely reactive, you are better able to coax and work together with your team in the direction that will be more successful for you all. Be patient as you try putting new strategies into place. It can take some trial and error to get the results you want. Over time, however, it will lead to better results from your team and a happier, more productive workplace.

Author: Peter Diaz

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

Beat Post Holiday Blues With These 5 Steps

28/12/2016

The holidays can be hectic. And, since even positive stress is still stress, they can wear people out. Even if the people on your team had only positive experiences throughout the holiday season, heading back to work afterward can leave everyone feeling let down. Productivity and mental health in the office can both suffer as a result.

How Can You Tell People Have the Holiday Blues?

It’s not as simple as someone walking around with a glum look on their face. Most of us almost automatically keep a positive or at least neutral demeanor at work, even if we’re not really feeling it. Instead, you may see post-holiday depression manifest in other ways.
Sometimes, someone who usually does stellar work will turn in stuff that just meets the minimum requirements. Others may take longer than usual to get things done. Still others may avoid chatting, come in late or call in sick more often.

No matter how people are showing that they are in a slump, you as their manager can help them turn it around to make things more positive going into the new year.

Read more on holiday stress and wellbeing…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

How to Battle the Blues

Putting a few policies and actions in place to start can get people out of a funk and back to being engaged and content at work. A few things that can help battle workplace depression:

1. Leave the out-of-town messages on.

When people come back to the office after a trip or a few days off for the holiday, let them know it is okay to keep their away messages on on their email and voicemail for another day or two. This gives them breathing room to catch back up with work and to get back into their routine before they are crushed with new incoming messages.

2. Show empathy.

Let people know that it’s okay for them to feel down in the wake of the holidays. Instead of worrying about wallowing, recognize that expressing emotions allows you to properly process them so that you can move on and get healthy. If you are feeling a bit of post-holiday workplace depression yourself, confide in your team members. They need to see that you trust them enough to express emotions to them and that you understand what they are feeling, too.

3. Cut everyone a little slack.

It’s perfectly normal for people to work a little slower or to make a few mistakes when they are just getting back from the holiday festivities. Be understanding when it happens. If people are feeling high stress because they are getting called out on mistakes, that will only multiple issues and make them last longer. In fact, it makes sense to lower goals for this time of year so that you account for time people spend out of the office as well as the time it takes to get them back into the groove.

4. Make healthy drinks and snacks available.

We all overindulge over the holidays. Whether it’s a bit too much to drink or suffering the effects of rich meal after rich meal, it doesn’t leave us feeling our best. Stock the break room with bottled water, seltzer, fruit and whole grain snack bars. People will appreciate the chance to keep themselves on post-holiday diets and to be able to forge healthy habits in the new year.

5. Make it possible for people to get out of work early.

When you’ve just spent a couple weeks at the beach or camping in the great outdoors, it can be hard to adjust to 10 hours a day in an airconditioned box, and an hour or two of public transport either side. If it is possible to offer a half-day here and there or stop work an hour early now and then, consider adding it. People will be grateful for both the extra free time and for the chance to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

The good news is that, after a while, people fall back into their normal routines. By making the transition back into work after the holidays easier, you can help people get back to normal faster and enjoy a healthier and more productive workplace.

Author: Peter Diaz

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

5 Signs You Might Have a Toxic Culture

16/12/2016

A toxic environment is a disease to any business. Unhappy people are demotivated and easily drawn out of the business, which, depending on the industry, can lead to the business having a bad reputation amongst potential employees. So not only is it important that your business doesn’t have a toxic culture, it’s also imperative to know the symptoms that indicate you might and what you can do to stop the disease from spreading. Here are the five most obvious symptoms and what you can do to remedy them:

Dysfunctional relationships among staff.

Signs of infection:

Cliquishness
Favouritism
Lack of communication
Grudge-holding
Staff are pitted against each other

Remedy:

Team bonding, as clichéd as it sounds, should never be underestimated. Friday afternoon drinks and other social events such as Christmas parties or a quarterly dinner, with 100% inclusion, will work wonders with turning your bitter group of individuals into a team. To further reinforce this, set team based rewards and incentives rather than individual ones. This stops team members feeling like the person next to them is their rival and not their teammate.

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

Your people feel they have a lack of work-home balance.

Signs of infection:

Team members’ personal relationships are suffering due to work
People work longer hours than they should or need to because they either feel like they have to, or are forced to
Staff are stressed at work and take it home with them

Remedy:

Be mindful of the mental health of your staff. Assure them it is your number 1 priority. Be a trusted rock for your staff. If they are having troubles in their personal life, be someone understanding that they can talk to, and if they need it, allow them the time away from work to tend to their personal needs. A happy team member is a lot more effective in an 8-hour day than a miserable one is in a 12 or 15-hour one.

Low morale.

Signs of infection:

People are unmotivated
People appear downtrodden and frustrated
People openly talk about not wanting to be there

Remedy:

Having a high morale will go a long way to ensuring you do not have a toxic work culture. Managing your people with a foundation of positive reinforcement, even when critiquing their performance, is pivotal to curing low morale. Nobody wants to be told they aren’t good enough or aren’t trying hard enough. “Good job” goes a long way in the good times. “We are doing great and will get through this” goes even further in the hard times. Also, be sure to trust your people. Micro-managing them will breed frustration and annoyance among your staff: trust that they know how to do their job and if and when they could do it better, give them feedback.

High turnover of staff.

Signs of infection:

New people don’t stay very long
You are constantly recruiting and training new employees

Remedy:

High staff turnover is the most obvious sign that something isn’t right in your business. Unfortunately, the reasons for it can be multi layered. It could be due to any of the other symptoms mentioned. To cure this, you must cure the other symptoms because constantly having to hire and bed in new staff will slow your progress and cost you a lot of money. Whereas a happy, experienced team who know the business will get more done, better and faster.

(Uh oh) You.

Signs of infection:

You set unrealistic expectations of your staff
You are cold and unsympathetic
You do not listen to your staff
You instil fear in your staff
You are hypocritical
You scapegoat individuals

Remedy:

Whoa there! That comes off seriously judge-y doesn’t it? I firmly believe that as leaders, we are doing the best we can, with the resources we have. But this doesn’t stop employees in a toxic culture thinking (even saying) things like this about you. Being a strong leader, who makes decisions and manages their staff from a place of positivity and genuine care, will cure every symptom of a toxic culture that you have. Take the steps to build and nurture your people into a team who work for one another to achieve their goals. Make your staff feel wanted and appreciated through positive reinforcement. Make them stay because they are loyal to you, their team members and the work culture you have built.

Toxic cultures are nasty places to be. But as a leader, wouldn’t you like to be part of the clean up crew?

Author: Peter Diaz

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

Office Rage: Handling Anger in the Workplace

16/12/2016

Anger. Everyone feels it at some stage in their lives. Putting a person – any person – in the pressure cooker that is the work place for a period of time and they are guaranteed to get angry at some point. That includes you, the manager, as well. A strong leader knows how to identify anger within themselves and others and knows what steps to take in order to rectify the situation.

As mentioned, there are two types of anger in the work place: yours and that of your people, each with their own two separate sub-types, overt and covert anger. Overt anger is visible and easy to spot, both within yourself and your people. It is out in the open, most likely used in a confrontation.

Read more on mental health and wellbeing…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

Covert anger is the anger that nobody was able to spot in time and became overt anger. This is the one to look out for. It is annoyance, irritation or passive aggression. Feelings we have all been told not to show, to grin and bear, to the point where sometimes, we don’t even notice they are there. But, they still manifest in a variety of different ways:

- Procrastination
- Perpetual or habitual lateness
- A liking for sadistic or ironic humour
- Sarcasm or cynicism
- Frequent sighing
- Clenching of fists or jaws
- Facial tics
- Passive aggressiveness

If you’ve noticed any of these within a member of your team, you will want to subtly investigate the cause so you can decide what to do next.

The best way to approach this is by being casual. Instead of pulling the person into your office for a chat, which may only exacerbate the situation, align your lunch with theirs, ask them about their day, their lives. Allow them to open up to you. If it is an issue at work, work with them to address it.

If it is an issue at home, be patient with them and allow them time to sort it out, and of course, offer your support if you can and it is appropriate. For anybody, having a manager that they can confide in and is understanding is of great comfort. It makes it much easier for them to “leave it at the door.”

And the same applies to you, the manager too. If you notice these feelings or signs, talk to someone about them, even if it is a member of your staff (showing that you trust them helps build their trust in you). It is important not to let this anger bubble under the surface, because it will eventually explode and either you or a member of your staff to will find themselves in a very compromising situation.

All overt anger was once covert anger. However, the length of time it has been bubbling under the surface can vary. It can be built up over weeks or months, or it can boil over in a matter of minutes. If confronted with this sort of anger in a member of your staff, it is important to remove them from the situation immediately. Again, taking them to the intimidating confines of your office for a chat has potential to make matters worse, therefore, it is best to take them for a walk or a coffee and talk to them calmly about what is making them feel this way.

Getting angry yourself will only make matters worse.

It is important to be a calming influence. Again, this is done by showing patience and care. Having a calm, rational and friendly chat with the employee will allow them to open up and tell you their grievances in order for you to help resolve them.

If you find these feelings boiling over within yourself, it is important to remove yourself from the situation, compose and control yourself and let the initial anger dissipate before you confront the source. This is especially important if the source of your anger is a member of your team. Taking a breather, whether it be for 5 minutes or leaving it for the next day is invaluable as it will allow you to confront the situation calmly, rationally and maturely – ensuring you don’t hurt or break the trust and respect you have worked hard to build with your team.

Author: Peter Diaz

Connect with Peter Diaz on: