Your leadership quality may or may not help you in managing emotionally-charged scenarios. For most of the women business leaders, responding to such situations demands poise and perspective. So, how do we best approach such a situation? In this blog post, we will be telling you about ways and principles that can help you to better handle emotionally charged situations.
- Understand your role in the situation.
Understanding your role and responsibilities in an emotionally charged situation is crucial for you to guide the conversation. Think about your intent-impact alignment, body language, and other factors that may contribute. It’s also important to recognize that the more senior your role is, the less acceptable it is to demonstrate poor behavior. You are expected to show up at your best, regardless of how your day is going or how you feel about anyone else in the de-escalating situations. That’s why it’s lonely at the top. The intent-impact alignment is about recognizing how you intend to show up, what you intend to communicate, and how you want to be seen and heard. This is your intent. However, there is often a gap between what you intend and the actual impact created by your actions, words, and body language. We evaluate our communications by our intentions, but others evaluate effective communication in leadership by its impact.
- Identify the story you’re telling yourself.
What often creates emotionally charged situations is workplace miscommunication and poor perspective. If one of your more junior partners complains about not being invited to a meeting, they may not be aware the meeting had nothing to do with them. This reflection can empower you to de-escalate the situation. With that awareness in mind, you can start separating facts from feelings to find a greater understanding of the situation and a healthier dialogue. For managing difficult people and situations, it’s easy to assume your perspective is accurate and correct.
- Focus on the task, not the person.
When encountering difficult people and situations, it is essential to focus on the task or problem at hand rather than the person. Recognize that the reaction you may be having is not necessarily a guarantee of future experiences. Assumptions are (usually) red flags of a maligned mindset and can cloud our judgment. Instead, stay on a constructive path by focusing on the goal, strategy, and vision, not the individual and their influence. Women leaders find great strength by leaning into the Titanium Rule in leadership. Instead of speaking to others how we want to be spoken to, the Titanium Rule guides us to speak to others in the way they want and need to be spoken to at that moment.
- Elevate your passion for being seen and heard.
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, someone may dig their heels in. When that happens, it can often cause a chain reaction of emotional responses. As the leader, this is a prime opportunity for you to show up with greater empathy in leadership. Emotionally charged situations don’t have to escalate when we lead with empathy, trust the Titanium Rule, and seek to understand the motives and positioning other people have in overcoming workplace challenges.
You are leading others with a balance of creating an environment that allows them to perform at their peak while also maintaining a healthy workplace culture. More power to you!
