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Experiencing emotions is a fundamental part of being human. And yet, we seem to have decided it isn’t always appropriate to be emotional.
As mental health becomes a central topic for debate, it feels as though the issue of hiding emotions in the workplace should be consigned to history. It’s been refreshing to discover Liz and Mollie. Two real-life people, who openly share about coping with emotions in the workplace. You’ve probably seen some of their cartoons being championed on social media.
No Hard Feelings is described as ‘a wickedly funny interactive guide to un-repressing your emotions at work’. I agree that it’s a thoroughly enjoyable read. It has some great concepts for how we can bring emotions to work in a non-threatening (for all) way.
I’ve got three key takeaways, which I want to share as they are excellent reasons for bringing our ‘whole self’ into our workplace.
1. It’s not what you say or do, but how emotions sound or look
The biggest potential issue with emotions at work is interpretation. You might not know those you work with on a personal level. This can lead to misunderstandings. However, rather than suppressing it, we should all learn to interpret what we see without jumping to judgement. On their Resources page, Liz and Mollie share downloadable guides to coping with emotionally charged situations. They’re concise, relatable and a great place to start when getting your head around feelings at work.
2. Often, a reaction is someone else’s feelings being projected
When we experience a negative reaction to our emotions, we need to remember that this isn’t just about us. They will have had their own personal experiences which impact the way they view and interpret emotions. Their reaction will be a manifestation of that. Emotional Intelligence is something I get asked about a lot. EI is the ability, or otherwise, of an individual to recognise, interpret and contextualise emotions, both their own and those of other people.
3. Gentle humour, carefully applied, can heal a situation
Humour is a very British tool, but Liz and Mollie bring it into play through their selection of ecards. By taking common areas of conflict within the workplace and creating a card that conveys support and understanding. They’ve managed to effectively make light of otherwise damaging situations. One of the best, in my opinion, is a card which shows two pie charts. The first shows three segments, entitled ‘what people think being emotional means’ with the segments showing ‘weak’, ‘irrational’, ‘unprofessional’ and then the second pie chart with one whole section entitled ‘what it really means’. The segment title reads ‘you are human’. I couldn’t have summed it up better myself.
Liz and Mollie’s book, No Hard Feelings, is available at bookshops, priced £14.99.
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