Professional Documents
Culture Documents
f Dislike as much as we would like to, we cannot like everyone with whom we
work, however it is important to remain professional at all times:
be civil demonstrate respect for people at all times; it gives them no
reason to treat you any differently
be assertive if they do treat you unfavourably make them aware of it in a
courteous manner and explain that you will not tolerate it
f Disappointment/dissatisfaction there are many reasons you might suffer
disappointment in the workplace such as rejection for promotion or failing to
meet targets despite your best efforts. Learning from the experience is the
best way to deal with it:
put things into perspective life doesnt always go the way we want it
to; that is what makes it interesting. there is no such thing as a bad
experience
review your goal you may not need to change your target if you havent
reached it, you just might need to adjust it. use this experience as a
learning exercise
get back in the saddle dont sit dwelling on it for days; its happened so
understand why it has and put it to bed in order to move on to the next
target.
Activity 1.4
2. Identify as many scenarios within your role as a manager that you have
experienced or may experience in which you have had to manage your
emotions. Honestly evaluate your performance and state what you could
have done differently to improve the outcome.
could ruin their day and they might even go home and worry about it, particularly
if it is a member of the management team that made the comment. The issue
may not come to light for a few more days until the administrative assistant
mentions it to a colleague and explains how it has affected him/her. The
manager may probably have forgotten about the printer running out of paper and
have no knowledge of the bad feeling they have caused. By having a conversation
with the administrative assistant and asking them how it made them feel allows
them to air their grievance and gives the manager the opportunity to understand
how their actions have adversely affected a colleague. It also enables the
manager to explain the lack of intent to harm the administrative assistants
feelings.
Question Response
How did I feel at Angry, frustrated, worried.
the time?
Why did I feel like Angry because the potential client was worth a lot of
this? money to the organisation.
Frustrated because the receptionist should know better
and it is standard procedure when taking a call to take a
contact number.
Worried that the client might question the
professionalism of the organisation or me because I have
not called back.
What was my I tried to disguise my real feelings with an attempt at
emotional humour by embarrassing the receptionist in front of the
response? customer.
How did that affect It probably made the receptionist feel useless and
the situation? humiliated in front of a customer.
It did not resolve the matter.
Question Response
How did it affect It made me look unprofessional in front of the customer.
me? It made me feel guilty and ashamed of myself for treating
the receptionist badly.
How did it affect It probably made the customer feel awkward and
others? damaged their opinion of me.
It upset the receptionist.
How could I Acknowledged the omission discreetly and politely and
have responded returned later to speak with the receptionist when the
differently? customer had gone, in order to salvage as much as
possible from the situation.
How do I feel now? Irritated with myself.
Why do I feel like Because I have upset a member of my staff, damaged my
this? reputation and quite possibly that of the company, and
still havent managed to call the potential client back.
What else do I I need to apologise to the receptionist and give her a
need to do to put it chance to explain.
right? I need to try and contact the potential client and explain
the reason for not calling back without blaming the
misunderstanding on the receptionist.
What do I need I need the receptionist to accept my apology.
from others to put
it right?
Feedback from the receptionist
Question Response
How did you feel Upset, angry, annoyed, embarrassed, worried.
at the time?
Why did you feel Upset, angry and annoyed at myself because it is a
like this? fundamental part of my job and I forgot to do it.
Upset, angry and annoyed at you because of the remark
you made to the customer and because you ignored me.
Embarrassed because the customer then tried to make
me feel better about my omission after you had gone.
Worried that there might be disciplinary repercussions.
What was my You were rude and humiliating.
emotional
response?
How did that It made it worse.
affect the
situation?
How did it affect I was worried for the rest of the day which affected my
you? confidence to do my job. I was not as friendly on the
telephone because I was concerned that I would make
the same mistake again. I hid from you when you came
through reception later to go to another meeting.
How could I Spoken to me later or in private.
have responded
differently?
How could you Tried to find the number of the potential client as soon as
have responded I realised I hadnt taken it down.
differently?
How do you feel Scared of you.
now?
Why do you feel Because you didnt come back to talk to me.
like this?
What else do you To forgive me for the omission.
need from me to
put it right?
What do you need Apologise.
to do to put it
right?
You can see that the feedback from the receptionist is very similar to the feelings
of the manager. This reflects the fact that when emotions are not managed, they
affect those involved in very similar ways.
Seeking feedback on emotions management from colleagues and members
of your team not only helps to develop your emotional intelligence, but it also
encourages them to think in a similar way to develop their own.
Activity 1.5
Identify an incident in the workplace in which you have tried to manage your
emotions but have not been totally successful. Complete a self-reflection and
where possible obtain feedback from others involved in the incident. If this
is not possible, imagine you are the other person involved and complete the
feedback.
Example incident:
Self-reflection
Question Response
How did I feel at the
time?
What do I need to do to
put it right?
Question Response
How did you feel at the
time?
What was my
emotional response?