A vital part of any business is having a deep understanding of how different emotions affect the business as a whole. Part of business operations is to know the feelings of your employees, clients and even yourself as a business owner. Small to medium enterprises must learn to master their business emotion as this can directly affect their success.
Business emotion can either boost or hinder your business productivity. That is why it is important to control them. As part of emotional intelligence, business owners must know how to react to emotional responses and learn to use them for a positive gain in productivity.
Business Emotion is Connected to Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is coined as “one’s ability to identify and control one’s emotions and also the emotions of people around him”. Business experts say that emotional intelligence is important in gaining interpersonal and leadership skills which are both essential in running a successful business.
So how do you enhance your emotional intelligence?
- Know that your employees are also human
Your employees may experience various waves of emotions just like you. You have people in your business and not some kind of emotionless robots. Providing a more relaxed workplace is essential in gaining emotional balance for your people. It’s a way to also increase motivation and thus productivity. Of course, they should also know what the appropriate emotional response is in the workplace. But you as a business owner, must not ignore these emotions as this can lead to deflated morale and internal conflicts.
- Practice empathy
Empathy can turn your emotional responses into something more meaningful and positive. For example, if you have an employee who has just finished dealing with an irate customer, you can turn his current emotion into solving similar problems and asking for opinions on how to prevent those scenarios again.
- Resolve difficult situations
Learning to defuse tough situations like pacifying angry customers or flustered employees can prevent you from losing a client or an employee. We all know that negative emotions are harder to manage than positive ones. This is one of the toughest challenges for small to medium enterprises. Having one satisfied customer means a lot for small businesses, while losing one or receiving negative feedback can have a bad effect on their reputation.
- Give valid and reasonable solutions
Make sure to focus on empowering your employees to change bad situations into good ones. In this way, they can gain emotional balance by turning negative emotions into positive emotions. Actions speak louder than words of course. If you have a big presentation to finish but your employees are too occupied because business sales are not going well, helping them in devising a plan can lessen their negative emotions that’s hindering their productivity.
- Cultivate workplace relationships
Part of emotional intelligence is accepting other people. That includes their personality and individuality, and this can build great relationships among your people. Great relationship between employees means a pleasing workplace. In the long run, your business can gain from this by lowering turnover and giving your business a solid growth foundation.
Dealing with Negative emotions for Small to Medium Enterprises
Ever heard of people saying that running a business, no matter how small or big it is, is not for the faint-hearted? Well, that is dramatically true. Small to medium enterprises owners will face difficult situations and they must overcome those to continue operating.
These situations are putting a toll on any business owner. We are all aware that failing to manage business emotion can lead to serious repercussions. And thus, maintaining emotional balance is vital for your business success.
So here are some tips for dealing with negative emotions.
- Know your boundaries
Having healthy boundaries is the initial step in learning to handle the various emotions that comes in running a business. At the start, it may be hard to not take things personally when you get any unpleasant comments or criticisms on how you run your business. The feedback that we will receive is not always positive. During this moment, always remember the reason why you started your business – it is for you, your family or your dream.
- Connect to people
It all makes us happy and less lonely when we have people supporting us. For business owners, you can look for other people that are in the same position as yourself. You can seek emotional support from them and also give some as you go with the same situations of practising trial and error in running your business. The feeling of being part of a group can boost one’s mental and emotional well-being.
- Give importance to simple things
When you are just starting your business, of course, you will focus all your time on it. But you must also learn to balance your time with other activities. This will prevent you from feeling negative emotions like being burned out. This doesn’t mean you have to travel or take a vacation. You can do simple things that help you to take your mind away from any business matter. You can have a massage, do a movie marathon or just simply spend time with your family. Remember that your emotions reflect your business. So, when your mental and emotional balance are not at their best, the quality of your business will not last.
- Remember to rest
Running a business requires a lot of mental stamina. In some cases, having mental fatigue leads to an emotional outburst. That is why it is important to take a break and rest. For business owners, when you feel like quitting, it’s already a sign of fatigue. When you are facing difficult situations and you don’t seem to see any solutions no matter how hard you try, it’s time to take a break. Clear your mind first. Then remind yourself of your motivations and passion.
Putting a happy face even if you are having a difficult time is part of running a business. But being genuine to your customers is also important.
Let Doug Durie help you with this. As your coach, he can help you understand business emotion and how to use them in your business for more growth.
