Why do we need to talk about emotions at work?

Because businesses are changing fast and we’re asking (or telling) people to adapt. We’ll all be moving through the (Kubler-Ross) change curve at a different pace. And we’ll feel different about some changes vs. others. If your people appear fine, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re fine. In a leadership role we need to be willing to lead or at least open the conversation.

And we need to repeat the conversation - people can go backwards on an emotional change curve and feel worse than yesterday - keep checking in.

In a leadership role you need to be able to ask your team if they're okay when big changes happen - and you need to know when to dig deeper if the response is 'I'm fine."

A useful tip: Ask 2-3 follow up questions. Don’t stop at ‘how are you?' Follow up with something like

- What’s your biggest challenge right now?

- On a scale of 1-10 how challenging is your role right now? Why is that?

- Anything currently in your way? How can I help with that?

- Do you feel better or worse about ‘x’ than last week?

The crucial point is you’re following up on ‘fine’ and probing a bit deeper. You’re doing this so you can signpost things that can support them. More information means you’re more useful.

Please don’t walk past an ‘I'm fine’ moment this week - pause and check it out.