Emotional Intelligence For Dummies®

Chapter 9. Dealing with Difficult Workplace Situations

In This Chapter

• Understanding how emotions affect you at work

• Getting through difficult work situations

• Handling others' emotions at work

It's Monday morning. The alarm clock rings. You bang your head trying to reach it; your arm, swinging across the bed, knocks the clock off the table onto the floor. You make it into the shower, but you don't have any hot water. Your dog bites your leg on the way down the stairs. Your favorite breakfast cereal's box is empty. You get stuck in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic. You finally have a patch of free road, and a red BMW cuts you off, almost forcing you into the lane of oncoming traffic.

Finally, you get to work, and one of your least favorite co-workers greets you with, "How was your weekend?"

You probably don't react by smiling and replying, "Great! How was yours?"

Contrary to what some managers believe, people don't leave the emotional part of their brains at home or park it outside the office with their cars. In this chapter, I examine why you need to both be aware of and manage your emotions, as well as the emotions of people around you at work. Not only can good emotional management help you navigate through difficult situations, it can also help you get ahead in your career. Knowing how to use your emotions — when to be appropriately glad, mad, sad, concerned, annoyed, and so on — can help you get more of what you want, or help you go where you want to go, at work.

Having Feelings at ...