SOO Culture Team Concept: Psychology, Empathy, and EQ

Why Does It Matter?

Remember the skit in which Jenni gave Ariel feedback following a convective event, but the feedback was difficult for Ariel to receive? Take a look at the skit below to see another version of the conversation. Notice how Jenni demonstrates strong awareness of emotional intelligence, extending Ariel the benefit of the doubt and focusing on working together toward improvement. What types of preparation might be necessary in order to deliver feedback in this way?

skit2.wmv

Emotional Awareness and Managing Emotions

Sometimes, as SOOs, we struggle to find the right balance between taking an “all business” approach to our interactions with co-workers and oversharing our emotions in the office. In this TED talk, Liz Fosslien shares why selective vulnerability is a key to bringing your authentic self to work. Check it out!

Showing Empathy and Connecting Through Listening

Have you ever had a conversation with someone about training, only to realize when the person you are speaking with is almost done talking, you missed much of what they were saying because you were thinking about how to make your next set of statements?

Jeremy Brewer interacts with individuals experiencing trauma and loss on a daily basis. In this TED talk, Brewer shares thoughtful insights on supporting others when they need us the most. While we may not interact with others experiencing loss as frequently, staying connected to our co-workers and understanding their situations is just as important.

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

Acting out and speaking based solely on our emotions can be risky, but so can blocking out or ignoring our emotions as they can tell us a great deal of valuable information. This is another balancing act that can take some time to become familiar!

Mitchel Adler’s talk Emotional Intelligence: How Good Leaders Become Great may help guide your exploration of where your emotions come from and what they mean. Adler reveals three secrets to managing and being aware of your emotions:

  1. Think about what triggers emotions within you. For example: what makes you angry?


  1. How do different emotions manifest themselves within you physically?


  1. How do you cope with stress/act out your emotions? What is your typical outward response when you feel the emotions below?

An awareness of the above three areas may assist us as SOOs to understand more clearly both where our emotions are coming from, and more effective ways to manage them. Our becoming more self-aware can benefit those we serve and lead.

Compassion and Empathy

In this TED talk, Daniel Goleman explores the question “Why aren’t we compassionate toward others more often?” One factor determining whether someone was willing to stop to help in an experiment was how much of a hurry they were in/whether they were late. Goleman makes a key distinction between focusing on ourselves and focusing on others.


How could these different focal directions impact you as a SOO?

Emotional Contagion and Leadership

What has been your experience as a SOO? Have you observed that emotions can be contagious and spread throughout a room?


Brandon Smith tackles this phenomenon in this TED talk. Subconscious mimicking of the expressions of others in a room tends to be a trigger for emotions spreading. We can pick up positive or negative “vibes” from those around us and carry them throughout our day. However, Smith notes that negative emotions tend to be more contagious than positive ones.

There is one person in the workplace that can have a greater influence on the emotions of others than anyone else. In a typical WFO, that’s the MIC. How does this knowledge affect what you might consider doing as a SOO?

Emotional Intelligence and Three Strategies for Managing Emotions

Joelle Hadley discusses three strategies for managing emotions in the TED talk below. Pulling it all together, how can we persist through tumultuous emotional situations? In other words, what strategies can we use when our “fight or flight” response is in control to move toward our cognitive thought system?

The three strategies presented here are:

  1. Breathe!

  2. Focus

  3. Be grateful.


A few quotes from the talk…

  • “People don’t do things to us…they do things for themselves.”

  • “Your emotional intelligence does create the headlines of your life.”

  • “We cannot influence unless we first connect.”

80-90% of our effectiveness as a leader lies in our emotional intelligence skills, according to Hadley.

As SOOs, the ability to influence our staff is crucial in so many areas. Hadley asserts that this kind of influence is not possible without making a personal connection.