Emotional Hijacking

Whether frameworks are personal or professional, emotions can be helpful or hindering no matter the environment. Kouzes (2003) talks about contagion and leadership and that when in a group environment that an “emotional soup” is created with each adding their own flavor and how people take emotional cues from the top and the domino effect ripples downward creating the emotional climate. Kouzes (2003) also discusses emotional hijacking and how negative emotions hijack attention away from the task at hand, eroding mental abilities, and impairing social skill-sets. Negative emotions are just plain bad for business whereas positive emotions create a positive environment, contributing to job satisfaction and overall increased performance levels. One of the statements that really stuck from this writer’s perspective is that happy employees make happy customers and this ultimately increases revenue. There is a direct link between leadership to climate to business performance.

Reference:
Kouzes, J.M. (2003). Business Leadership. A Jossey-Bass Reader