Why is it critical for organizations to set up an emotionally conducive workspace environment?

We all have been in positions when our promotion is canceled, the hike is shelved to an indefinite period, ugly arguments with the boss, best friend is laid off, the onsite trip is negated for unknown reasons, and so on and so forth. If it was our personal life, we would have yelled, screamed, or felt sorry with tears in our eyes. Yet the working environment doesn’t offer any space any expression of emotions, as we are judged and labeled constantly. In short, our professional reputation is at stake.

As the gates of college campus close, and the doors of workspace welcome, one of the critical lessons instilled in people is to put aside the emotions. Expression of emotions such as worry, anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness, failure, etc., are classically dismayed by leaders, and peers. These bottled up emotions, good or bad, usually leads to alarming scenarios in workspace.

In my very small stint of corporate work experience, I have faced scenes, when I had to personally control my tears for multiple reasons. I have personally uttered the words, ‘Be strong. Don’t cry, everyone is looking at you. You are stronger than your tears.’ In many cases, the walls of private conference rooms and restrooms are the sole witness of the real emotions. The seed of ‘to be strong and brave’ is so deep-rooted, that we wear a mask of ‘It’s fine, I’m fine, & Everything is fine’. We are always opting a calm demeanor to abort any kind of turbulence in our professional path.

‘A Happy & Satisfied Team is a Productive Team’. And real happiness comes when both positive and negative emotions are expelled. The big question is while we are comfortable and open to express positive emotions, why don’t we embrace when negative emotions are voiced? We all have it in us, yet the expression judged. Till the workspace has humans, emotions are definitely going to play a critical role. Its time we plug out the ‘shu-shu & no-no’ mode of policing ourselves and others. Let’s start being ourselves and allow others to be themselves.

People are the lifeline for any organization, and this change should also be articulated in words and actions from top to lower management. Every business organization must offer an emotionally conducive workspace. Let’s break the chain of controlling and managing our emotions. As an emotionally comforting team, let’s step up to show empathy and offer a space for expression of emotions. Let’s propagate the notion of, ‘It’s Okay to Cry at Work’ so that no soul weeps in isolation.