To become an effective leader, do emotions get in the way making sound decisions?
Do emotions hinder the thinking process or are they are a part of it?

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Originally posted by seaberry:
To become an effective leader, do emotions get in the way making sound decisions?
Do emotions hinder the thinking process or are they are a part of it?

Emotions are a critical part of decision making. Emotional Intelligence is an emerging field that really focuses on "the other side of the brain". Every decision we ever make is based on emotions, how we feel about things. For instance, why would I want to go to Hawaii for vacation? It costs too much, it could rain, my flight could be late, etc...yet, the end feeling or emotion is, "It will make me happy". Food for thought.

I believe that emotions do play a part but your decision cannot be based solely on them. Before making a decision, you need to take into account all factors. Not simply performance and production but what is going on in that person’s life, the attitude they're bringing to the table, and past experience. Maybe you can help someone personally and therefore develop a stronger working relationship with them. People won’t care about the work until you show how much you care about them.

Now on the flip side a story I once heard detailed how a manager was continuously holding onto a low performance employee because they knew the employee had several children to feed. After hanging onto the employee for some time with no increase in production or accountability, the manager found out that the employee was having an affair and spending the money he earned on the mistress. Turns out that the manager cared more for the employee’s children than the father.

Ultimately you should take into account emotions and try helping before making snap judgments, but always remember your position and the need to guard the best interests of your employer.

I'm not sure who's theory this is but I recall somebody recently suggesting to me that all decisions are taken emotionally - the rational bit comes later simply so we can make sense of them and perhaps even justify them after the fact. The time delay between the emotional and rational elements may be fractions of a second. It certainly goes some way to explain the 'irrational' things we humans are noted for - such as giving your life to save another.

Best wishes,

Martin

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I'm not sure who's theory this is but I recall somebody recently suggesting to me that all decisions are taken emotionally - the rational bit comes later simply so we can make sense of them and perhaps even justify them after the fact.

This is a well-considered and powerful point that folks in Leadership Development need to understand, I think. I believe this is at least partly built on (or at least related to) Goleman's work underlying the study of Emotional Intelligence. See some of his concepts on the Amygdala's role in emotional versus rational response, for example.

I worked on a book some years back with a couple consultants, one of whom is still a professor at USC's Marshall School of Business. He theorized (and I share his theory) that the decision-making process is actually almost precisely reversed from what people will tell you about it. In other words, people say that the way they make decisions is that they frame the problem, analyze data, select the best option, and then implement the solution. In reality, though, people determine a solution (i.e., they decide), then frame the problem in the context of their solution, and then select data to support or justify the problem as they've defined it and the solution they selected.

When confronted with research showing that they're doing this, people will almost universally swear up and down that the researcher is totally wrong. Reactions can be quite emotionally charged, in fact, which suggests that not only are we illuminating a blind spot for people, but one that confronts a particular vulnerability.

There's little room for doubt that emotions influence decision-making profoundly. There's less danger in that, in my view, than there is in denying that it's happening. Enlightened leaders and emotionally intelligent people have the ability to acknowledge the emotional content or drivers of decision-making and step up to a more "objective" or data-driven level of decision justification. The question then is, do they actually use that?