How Emotional Contagion is Affecting Your Company

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Today we are talking about the contagion of emotions in organizations and how this can affect delivery, profitability and innovation in the company. To do this, I've taken part of Chapter 5 of Enterprise Agility Fundamentals (which you can download for free here in English or here in Spanish ) where we cover various aspects of this topic:

(Chapter 5, Enterprise Agility Fundamentals)

Mobilization or mobility is an essential concept in Enterprise Agility , as the lack of it can undermine your company's progress. The opposite, Demobilization, is the process by which team members lose motivation and commitment, distance themselves from the big-picture strategy, and get on with their tasks. This emotional contagion can spread through your organization, creating barriers that block progress. People appear disinterested, disorganized, and unproductive, focusing on routine tasks without making a real or creative effort to achieve the organization's strategic goals. Demobilization is often triggered by psychological and neurological factors such as fear, stress, or uncertainty about the organization's goals and strategies.

Emotionally demobilized citizens often feel overwhelmed, frustrated, or discouraged. They have difficulty seeing the value in their work, and their job satisfaction and engagement diminish.

Imagine your citizens navigating the rough waters of constant change as the waves of emotional alienation crash around them. Demobilized workers may feel isolated, distancing themselves from their colleagues and the bonds that keep the ship sailing smoothly in the workplace. Cognitively, these individuals and teams may hold rigid, closed, and pessimistic thinking, resisting change and new ideas. They prefer to stick to familiar routines and processes, even when the winds of change are blowing around them.

Citizens may also play it safe, becoming risk-averse and seeking stability and predictability amid the turbulence of uncertain times. They do this by strictly following procedures, a behavior that will decrease innovation and productive conversations. This mindset can cause the overall value of your business to decline as adaptability takes a back seat. Another cause is a lack of erratic rhythm. It can increase the flames of demobilization and further undermine your organization's ability to respond effectively to change.

In organizations where demobilization has taken root, the quality of interpersonal interactions and conversations decreases. Communication between citizens can lack positivity and the cooperation necessary for a great work environment. This can lead to misunderstandings, damaged relationships, and reduced effectiveness in problem-solving and decision-making, ultimately impacting your business's shared progress and success.

Unlike demobilized citizens, mobilized citizens proactively seek solutions to challenges and contribute to business growth with innovative ideas. These proactive citizens tackle challenges head-on and develop creative ideas that move your business forward. A culture of Strategic Mobility enables your company to ride the waves of new opportunities, adapt to ever-changing market conditions, and maintain a competitive advantage.

Mobilized citizens feel connected and motivated to the company's goals, have less stress, and have higher job satisfaction because they feel helpful and valuable. With motivation and clear priorities as a compass, these citizens set a course for productivity and efficiency in achieving important goals. Emotionally, they're attached to the company's mission and values, take pride in contributing to the big picture, and feel satisfaction in their work. This emotional commitment gives them a great sense of safety.

Cognitively mobilized individuals and teams are curious, open-minded, and solution oriented. They actively seek opportunities to learn, grow, and embrace new perspectives and ideas to overcome challenges. Their mindset is dynamic, resilient, and aligned with your organization's strategic goals, leading your company to unimagined success.

According to Enterprise Agility University, these are the seven main reasons why people Demobilize, and some ideas on how you can deal with them:

1. Exhaustion: Prolonged periods of stress, uncertainty, exposure to accelerated change, overtime, and dealing with complex challenges can drain individuals and deplete their energy and motivation reserves. It leads them into "survival mode." You should pay attention to and monitor workload, reduce multitasking, use a clear backlog of activities for the day, focus on Eustress (good stress), and promote a flexible work style. A straightforward way to observe this is to consider how much workload affects citizens' personal lives.
2. Fear and Uncertainty: When people are afraid or uncertain about their future, their motivation and performance decrease, and frustration increases, which limits creativity and risk-taking. To counteract this, you should provide clarity, reinforce it frequently, and use different communication styles for other groups. You can also use the Change Journey Pyramid, explained later in this section.
3. Unfairness: Perceptions of unfairness in distributing power, opportunities, or rewards can affect motivation and morale. It would help if you strived to provide fairness and transparency in these areas and foster a sense of justice and equality among citizens. Look at Accelerated Change Principle 5 in the next section for ideas and models.
4. Breakdown in Trust: drastic changes can shake trust in leadership and the company's direction, leading to cynicism and demotivation. You should work to restore confidence through transparency, inclusion, and open communication as soon as you detect it. In Enterprise Agility, breaking promises as the market changes is acceptable behavior as long as you rebuild trust greater than before—we call it Adaptive Trust.
5. Lack of Control: citizens who have no influence on decisions or are excluded by their colleagues (exclusion) can become demotivated. You can counteract this by building an inclusive environment, giving more autonomy, helping them to have the skills to understand the new reality, and asking for a say, which activates the motivational centers in the brain. Check out Accelerated Change Principle 9 in the next section to learn more about how a Memorable Learning Experience can help you.
6. Lack of Meaning or Purpose: Citizens who don't see how their work contributes to the company's goals become demotivated. You should help citizens understand the connection between their efforts and the company's top priorities and reinforce skills because finding meaning and purpose activates motivational forces and is needed in highly changing environments.
7. Stagnation in Career Development: It can be demotivating not to see a path for growth or development in your career. You should provide opportunities for advancement and communicate clear expectations for action because a sense of growth fosters motivation. Charting a path forward and sharing progress can mobilize citizens and reactivate motivation. Celebrate small successes, highlight milestones, and discuss future impact opportunities. The brain's reward system will respond positively to progress when it happens.

Think of your company as a bustling environment with activity and energy. When citizens are filled with joy and enthusiasm, the hive thrives, and productivity increases. But as we all know, sometimes storms move in and disrupt harmony. This is where Emotional Contagion comes in, a phenomenon that can quickly spread good and bad emotions across the workplace like lightning.

In times of market disruption, your company may find itself in the eye of the storm, with an increased risk of demobilization as motivation decreases. But stormy weather also offers opportunities for mobilization if you can harness the power of emotion. If you want to navigate these turbulent times and keep citizens engaged, it's essential to understand the complex interplay of emotions in your organization.

You can foster a culture of resilience, adaptability, and unity by harnessing the power of positive emotions and containing the spread of negative emotions. The late Sigal Barsade, a pioneering researcher and professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, dedicated years to studying emotions in the workplace. Her groundbreaking work provided essential insights into emotions' contagion and impact on group dynamics. Although she recently passed away, her research and teachings will continue to shape the understanding of the impact of emotions on motivation, relationships, and progress in organizations.

Barsade research has shown that emotions majorly impact individual and collective wellbeing, performance, and overall success. When citizens are charged with positive emotions, they're more likely to feel mobilized and ready to meet challenges. On the other hand, negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, or frustration can dampen productivity and spread demobilization like wildfire.

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Avoiding Demobilization

So how can you, as a leader, prevent this wildfire from taking hold of your organization? By recognizing and managing emotions in your professional environment early, you can create a positive work environment that keeps negative emotions at bay. Watch for signs of Emotional Contagion and remember that when citizens "catch" it from their colleagues and managers, their motivation and engagement can drop, putting the entire hive at risk of a domino effect that impacts all citizens and leads to demobilization.

Elaine Hatfield, another renowned social psychologist, and professor emerita of psychology at the University of Hawaii, is also known for her research on emotional contagion. Her groundbreaking work has captivated leaders worldwide, uncovering the mechanisms by which emotions spread like wildfire in social interactions. Hatfield has studied how emotional contagion works and has paved the way for leaders to use this knowledge to create a positive and mobilized environment.

In a series of experiments, Hatfield observed people's reactions to the emotional expressions of strangers to uncover the power of emotional contagion. In one study, participants looked at photos of happy, angry, or fearful expressions of emotion, and their faces were observed for subtle reactions. Surprisingly, people not only mimicked the expressions they observed but also reported feeling the same emotions afterward.

In another exciting experiment, Hatfield had participants listen to a neutral story delivered in a variety of emotional tones. The listeners' heart rates and self-reported emotions matched the story's style as if they were emotional chameleons, illustrating the power of emotional contagion and conditioning.

Hatfield's research also highlights the positive side of emotional contagion. When people observed their loved ones receiving surprise gifts or compliments, they experienced the warm fuzzies of joy, pride, and appreciation. It's like a beautiful, emotional osmosis, transferring happiness through the power of cognitive empathy. She also found that people with high empathy and emotional intelligence are more likely to pick up on others' emotions. In contrast, those with less empathy or emotional self-awareness are less susceptible. Elaine also shows that we "catch" the emotions of others through three main mechanisms:

• Facial Feedback occurs when we observe another person's emotional facial expression and cause our facial muscles to mimic their expression. It subconsciously causes our physiological responses to trigger a similar emotional experience within us. For example, when we see someone smile, we also smile and feel happy. Through this facial feedback, we pick up on the happiness of others.
• Associative Conditioning happens as we learn to associate certain expressions, actions, or events with specific emotions. When we perceive these signals in others, we anticipate and begin to experience the same feeling. For example, a child might associate yelling with anger. So, when he hears a parent yell, he gets scared and expects anger to follow. We pick up the emotion through conditioning and association.
• Cognitive Empathy is built when we make inferences about another person's feelings by putting ourselves in their shoes. For example, when a friend receives a gift, we infer they're happy or excited. Consequently, we begin to experience that excitement or joy in their place. We adopt their feelings by using cognitive empathy and putting ourselves in their shoes.

When you understand these mechanisms, you can actively address negativity and promote open communication to minimize the spread of harmful emotions throughout the organization. By harnessing this knowledge, you can strategically create a more harmonious and mobilized workforce.

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