Let Emotional Momentum Help Communicate.

emotion It plays a crucial role in many aspects of leadership and communication, such as effective decision-making, stronger interpersonal relationships, resilience and creativity. In this article, the author puts forward the concept of emotional dynamism, which includes four dimensions, which is a new framework for understanding how leaders exert their emotional power.

EQ has become an important symbol of mature managers as well as intelligence quotient. Although there are many evaluation methods and conceptual models of EQ, some concepts often appear, including self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, social skills and so on. EQ is closely related to transformational leadership, such as inspiration, motivation and foresight. The research on leaders' EQ and performance shows that the higher the EQ of a leader is, the higher his subordinates will give him the performance rating, and the higher the efficiency of the company.

Although the meaning and effect of EQ have been settled, how it can produce this effect is often neglected. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a framework to develop EQ through the characteristic of emotional dynamism.

Emotional kinetic energy refers to a person's ability to express various emotions, regulate any emotional intensity, smooth and quickly transform emotional state, and combine emotional state with thinking, physical state and creative ability. Emotional kinetic energy includes four major dimensions:

Emotional changes?

Emotional intensity?

Emotional mobility?

Emotional integration?

Emotional kinetic energy is the amazing effect of emotion and the antecedent index of EQ Development. If the musician can only play half the pitch, he will not adjust the volume through delicate or pleasant paragraphs, only repeat part of the music, ignoring the rest of the music, and you won't be able to enjoy the wonderful piano playing.

Just as tone and music must be complete, every element of emotional energy is of great importance in leadership.

Next, we further explain all dimensions of emotional dynamism, and put forward some corresponding self-test questions and training suggestions.

　　 Dimension 1: emotional change 

If you compare emotions to the keys of a piano, the mood changes are like all the notes you use when you play music, including high notes, bass, big notes and small notes. People who have learned piano lessons know that they first learned simple songs, that is, songs composed of only eight notes. As your abilities improve, the notes used in your music are more varied and more extensive.

Some people may know little about changes in human emotions. If you understand anger, sadness and happiness, you may only express these basic emotions, and only get used to the existence of these emotions. However, with the improvement of emotional maturity, your ability to change your mood will also increase. For emotionally rich leaders, apart from six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, horror, anger, surprise and disgust), they can also express hundreds of emotions.

Emotional change refers to the ability to distinguish between oneself and others, and to express these emotions intentionally. By expressing all your emotional changes, you can get valuable information about yourself and the outside world.

Compassion and empathy require you to identify with others' emotions. If you feel uncomfortable with certain kinds of emotions, you often avoid or deny them inside. In this way, you can not get important information about specific events, situations or people that lead to these emotions. In addition, you will not agree or deliberately avoid other people's feelings that may cause you inner discomfort.

If you can't "see" certain emotions, it's hard to be compassionate or lack empathy. Recently, a group of managers from a large company and participated in the leadership development course watched photos of people expressing different emotions. The results showed that managers who felt uncomfortable with specific emotions could not see clearly the faces of people with these emotions.

Self test questions

What kind of emotions do I have the most receptive to myself and others?

When did I receive feedback about empathy or lack of empathy?

What kind of needs are I satisfied or frustrated?

How do these needs relate to my emotional changes?

How to cultivate emotional changes

One of the common causes of your lack of emotional change is that you consciously or unconsciously avoid specific emotions. Therefore, one of the ways of training is to understand the root cause of your avoidance of these emotions. Is it because you have expressed certain emotions on certain occasions and have led to undesired results? Have you been influenced by any cultural factors (country, sex, family, occupation) and are unwilling to express certain specific emotions?

Another way of training is to discover and arouse unfamiliar emotions. You can match your facial expression and emotional state by looking at pictures to train your ability to recognize subtle emotions. Your emotional state is affected by facial expressions. Try to make different facial expressions and record the difference between the emotional states produced.

　　 Dimension two: emotional intensity 

Emotional intensity refers to the ability to "raise" or "lower" a certain emotion, and the degree of emotional match you have on a particular occasion. Think about the importance of adjusting the volume when playing a song. Just as great composers use sound intensity to convey different musical meanings, your emotional intensity helps others understand your inner world.

Perhaps you have worked with such a person, that is, he suddenly "opened" or "closed" mood, or without any sign of the situation, from mild anger into extreme anger. Such a rapid change of mood makes the people around us feel very uncomfortable. Leaders who lack the ability to regulate emotional intensity may be unpredictable and therefore difficult to gain trust from others.

If your voice is always low, but a person's ability to regulate emotional intensity is very strong, you may misinterpret the other's moderate emotional expression as extreme expression. This will lead to inaccurate transmission of information. Your sensitivity to accurately understand other people's emotional expression and your emotional intensity matching on certain occasions indicate your emotional stability and make you feel confident in front of your subordinates.

Self test questions

Do I have a habit of emotional intensity? Do I always suddenly "open" or "close" mood?

How long will it take me to find out that I am in a certain emotional state?

Do other people sometimes feel surprised at my emotional expression?

How to cultivate emotional intensity

The reason why you are restricted by emotional intensity may be that you have not registered your emotional state on a specific occasion, or you are ashamed to express your emotions. Sometimes we express our emotions appropriately, but on other occasions we do not properly restrict or postpone our emotional expression. Record your emotional reactions on specific occasions. Pay attention to when you stop emotional expression and when there is no sign of any kind of emotion.

When you recognize someone or your own emotional state, consciously choose your actions. Through practice, we can cultivate our ability to monitor our emotional states and express our ability to match emotions on every occasion. Get feedback from your trusted people about your emotional intensity.

　　 Dimension three: emotional mobility 

Emotional mobility refers to the ability to switch emotional states unimpeded and at the appropriate speed on specific occasions. Take piano playing as an example. Fluent players can play music at a faster or leisurely pace. Such players will not be trapped in specific notes or paragraphs.

In some emotional situations, people with emotional mobility can transcend the mood of a particular moment. On the contrary, people who lack emotional mobility tend to be trapped in certain emotions or unable to make appropriate emotional responses to specific occasions quickly. This situation is more prone to negative or undefined emotional states. A particular emotional state can be intimate and comfortable.

There are many implications for developing emotional mobility. If you expand your decision-making space, you can cope with specific situations and even change the situation. Lack of mobility can easily weaken the ability to experience other things in the environment. For example, if a leader is beset by a failure project, he may not be able to inspire the passion that his subordinates need to find new opportunities. This is the so-called "tunnel vision" effect, that is, we can not see other options that can be used. If a leader is trapped in a certain mood, even if this emotion is positive, such as hope or optimism, others may feel depressed. If a situation requires leaders to react to depression, too positive emotional reactions can be extremely inconsistent.

Self test questions

When was the last time you had to give up an emotional state? What happened? Who are involved? Does this form a pattern? What results do these situations lead to?

When did you change from one emotional state to another? What happened? Who are involved? Does this form a pattern?

Compare your answers to the two questions above. So, how do you know your emotional pattern?

How to cultivate emotional mobility

Start with your most comfortable emotional state (such as happiness, anger or frustration) and notice how long you stay in a certain emotional state. Ask yourself, "why do I have this feeling?" "What triggers this mood?" Or "does this sentiment reflect my experience?"

When you find that the choices you are facing are limited, record your emotional state and consciously filter this emotion through psychological review, self questioning, self answer, picture or music stimulation. Then think of other options that can solve the problems.

　　 Dimension four: emotional integration 

Emotional integration refers to the ability to understand the relationship between emotion and mind, body state and creative expression. Playing a piece of music requires the integration of the musical instruments involved. If there is a lack of string or brass music, the audience can not fully understand the artistic value of the music. Similarly, if leaders fail to grasp the opportunity to see how their emotions affect their thoughts, feelings and creativity, they will not be able to give full play to their talents.

Rational thoughts and emotions are always intertwined. In DeCarr's Descartes (Error's), the author, Damasio (Antonio Damasio), gave up the idea that emotions are divorced from the mind. In fact, when a brain injury hurts a person's emotional center, he can not make even the simplest decision.

Similarly, your thinking of specific situations will affect your emotional state. You can create emotions based on your thoughts. Just think about the emotional changes you have experienced during the day, and you will find that your concerns are likely to arise.

Your language also reflects the idea that "emotion is closely related to body and body touch", such as "I am quite nervous inside", "she makes people headache", "I feel heavier and heavier" and "I feel very relaxed". These common expressions link anxiety, frustration, fear, carefree and physical touch. Many people are aware of these emotions at the intellectual level after experiencing emotion through body touch. Similarly, your emotional state affects your physical state and your ability to recover from bodily trauma and illness.

At the same time, creativity depends on your ability to make new connections, solve unusual problems, and transcend the ordinary environment. Although creativity is positively related to positive factors, new research shows that changes in mood are essential for creativity.

Recent studies have found that conflicting feelings, such as experiencing excitement and anxiety at the same time, help to enhance the ability to establish new connections, suggesting that emotional changes may be associated with creativity. Negative emotions tend to limit people's ability to see all kinds of choices. Therefore, if leaders are trapped in negative emotions, they may limit their ability to make correct decisions and make strategic responses to new challenges.

Self test questions

What emotional signals do I have? Can I use this system to cultivate all dimensions of emotional kinetic energy? Can the system tell me when I am going through a particular emotion or when I am trapped in a pattern of emotional response?

How can I integrate my emotions, that is, my heart, into the decision-making process?

Am I aware of fluency or creative mental state? When do I get into this state easily? What emotions can prevent me from entering a smooth mental state?

How to cultivate emotional integration

Cultivating emotional integration requires leaders to understand their emotional response patterns. Each of us has a set of beliefs about the world that inspires us to respond. Do you understand your beliefs? How do you relate to your bodily sense of touch?

Establish a quick way to understand your body condition and its relationship with emotional state. A strong emotional response is used as a signal to test the changes around us. If your reaction is strong, ask yourself what has happened. Is it your past experience or local sources that triggered your emotions?

Emotionally integrated leaders can see their own emotional response patterns, be sensitive to how to react according to their emotions, and use emotional information to convey their cognition.

　　 Approved by Pepperdine University, the original is Emotional Dynamism: Playing the Music the, written by Dr. Terri Egan and Ann E. Feyerherm, published in the 2007 spring of the magazine. For more details, please login to gbr.pepperdine.edu/072/dynamism.html. The University registered its copyright in 2007. A-Sun translated. 

　　 Dr. Terri Egan is an assistant professor and core member of Applied Behavioral Science at the Pepperdine MSOD University. Dr. Ann E. Feyerherm is the director and master of organization theory and management at Pepperdine University. (extension) icxo )