Removing Emotion, Why Emotion May Be What You Need
It makes me chuckle. Not a happy chuckle, but a, “Wow, are you sure you’re doing the right thing because I’m doubtful,” kind of chuckle. Are you suggesting that removing emotion is required in your workplace?
Recently I had an opportunity to bid on a keynote presentation for a company retreat. One of the suggested paths for the talk was to encourage employees to remove the emotion in their workplace.
I won’t submit a bid.
Who Does This?
Engineering firms are notorious for this approach, followed closely by manufacturing firms, and ultimately any organization that may earn the moniker of Sweatshop.
Certainly, I mean no disrespect to any firms, in any sector.
However, you’ll likely find a bear in the woods, a taxi in the city, and a McSomething at McDonalds. As with most things in life, it is not representative of all engineering or manufacturing firms, but from my experiences these represent a more likely place to find it.
Emotional Pursuit
The last time I checked, emotion was a very big part of what moves people. Emotion is often the fuel for pursuit.
Is passion an emotion? What about excitement, is excitement driven by emotion? And of course, fear is an emotion, although it should not be regarded as a positive approach.
Organizations that encourage removing emotion will likely land with far greater problems than the issues they are trying to improve.
What are they trying to improve? Likely they are trying to reduce drama, poor decision making, and behaviors that signal a disconnect between the masses of the workforce and the leadership team.
Removing Emotion
Are you suggesting that removing emotion is a good thing? It is doubtful that this will be beneficial. In fact, it could make things much worse.
Instead consider discovering and exploring the kind of emotion you should have. Consider things like passion, persistence, and tenacity. All of which are connected to, or are, emotionally driven.
What are you really trying to remove?
-DEG
Do you want to drive positive change? Mindset is why I wrote this book:
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
