Feelings

I've talked about feelings in previous posts and a little bit in my book.  This is my pet peeve, people that are led by their feelings.  We all do it from time to time, but some people do it a little more than they should.  Feelings have no place on the job or in any environment where people come together to achieve a common goal.  By feelings I'm talking about negative feelings.  I'm not talking about compassion, or love, or anything of that nature, I'm talking about hate, envy, anger, depression...etc.  Feelings that can disrupt forward progress.  We as leaders cannot let feelings dictate the way we operate.  Not only can this lead to an ethical dilemma but it can severly hinder the momentum of the mission at hand. 

Too many times I've seen forward progress halted because of the way somebody was feeling.  I've had to pull subordinates aside and let them know the world doesn't stop because they're angry or sad.  Life goes on regardless of how we feel.  This is why we cannot let how we feel enter into the work place.  When you do it will change the way people feel about you and even worse about your organisation.  It's bad enough when people within your organisation knows that you're unstable but when people outside your organization sees it they might not see you but who you work for.  Then that will inadvertantly change the overall view that people have about your organisation.  This is why it's also imperative that as leaders we don't let those working for us and our peers operate like this.  We must nip this in the bud.  We can't baby people or let people bring their personal issues to work.  If we do we'll allow a precedent that will be hard to break. 

If people know that you're not led by your feelings and they know that you don't except it in the work place it will slow down this way of thinking and acting.  People act the way they're allowed to act.  If somebody knows that all it takes to get attention or get sent home early is to have a breakdown and start crying then they'll do it.  But if people know that this type of behavior will not be tolerated then they will think twice before falling victim to their emotions.  Because at the end of the day it's either allow our emotions to drive us or accomplish what needs to be done.