MC84 Manager Emotions: Emotional Contagion

For the fourth episode of our series on manager emotions we talk about Emotional Contagion, as it’s something that keeps coming up.

Emotional Contagion describes how one person’s emotions can induce similar emotions in others. This is often happening at an unconscious level, for example, we mimic someone’s facial expression and start to feel the same emotion.

Managers should be especially mindful of this phenomenon and its potential impacts. When a leader gets angry or happy or sad, everyone around them also feels a bit of that same emotion. Leaders are a focal point of interaction meaning they are more susceptible to emotional contagion than followers.

This brings both challenges and opportunities. Whilst emotional contagion often operates at a subconscious level, leaders can take deliberate steps to guide the emotional state of themselves and those around them.

For a timed set of show notes, head over to Management Café’s blog site.