Do Emotions Play a Role in Running a Business? Emotions are an integral part of business and everyone gets affected by it

Once I was asked by an intern what is the biggest lesson I have learnt while running my business. There are many lessons learnt but I realised that the biggest was to not take a decision or have a conversation when your emotions are running high.

Even more critical for the business I am in – healthcare. I work with energy healers with huge buckets of energy on one side and clients with low energy on the other.

It's natural that the conversations tend to become personal and emotional. It's very easy to get caught up in this and take decisions based on either our emotions or the energies we have picked up from the other person.

We come back to the question – is it bad to be emotional in a professional set up? I would say that emotions are an integral part of business and everyone gets affected by it. People are the core part of any businesses, be it employees, partners or customers. There is human interaction, relationships formed and where there are people there is bound to be emotions. Business automation can only go to a point, emotions are still an integral part.

Human intelligence vs Artificial intelligence

Once we accept that emotions form the basic crux of every human, it is not about whether they are good or bad for a business anymore. But how do we manage the emotions, of every individual effectively for successful business. That is the key "management of emotions" or energies as I like to view emotions as.

For at the end of the day each emotion that we feel creates energy in us and we react, respond, communicate or behave according to that energy. And this can be used very effectively as part of a company's culture.

Idea of an Entrepreneur

When starting a company every entrepreneur has an idea what kind of environment and culture they want to have in their company, it could be fun-filled, warm, professional, casual, relaxed, ethical. And even if it is not said out aloud, but slowly over the months and years unconsciously our decisions start reflecting what we had in mind. It could be a hiring decision, HR rules, interraction between employees, client focus and even processes.

Goal to Make Women Self-reliant

As a coach, I work mostly with women as one of my goals is to make more and more women self-reliant and financially independent. When I started healclinic it was only natural for me to tap into the women resource pool who have taken a break from work or want to restart their career be it full time or part time. Working with a set of returning mothers involves managing certain kinds of emotions and behaviour, which comes with its own set of challenges. This has led to shape the culture at healclinic.

How Emotions Help Women in This Job

It is not that their emotions are good or bad, just that the emotions and energies they bring to work have to be managed well in line with what is expected in their roles. And that sets the tone of the emotional culture at healclinic. So the key in my experience is not to deny the emotions that one is feeling at work, but to ensure that intense emotions do not interfere with decision making or in their interaction with key partners/clients. And that requires training, clear communication, developing a certain level of maturity and giving everybody a space to express their emotions safely without any consequences.

As Peter Drucker said - 'When you hire a hand, it comes with a head and a heart attached.' Hiring the 'right hand' is a critical aspect but ensuring that the 'head and the heart' perform effectively is equally important.