Why Leaders Should Care About Emotional Expression
When my son with autism was young, one of the strategies recommended by specialists was to over exaggerate all of our emotions with him. When I was happy, my expression and body language was over-the-top jubilation, when I was surprised, my eyes and mouth couldn’t get any bigger, and when I was disappointed, I displayed an exaggerated “puppy face” with the sad eyes – and my verbal cues matched my expressions perfectly.
The reason for doing this was to help my son’s young brain make the connection between events and related emotions which is something that is often difficult for people on the autism spectrum. For my son, it worked! Almost too well. Now as a young adult, he expects nothing less than a joyous outburst when I am proud of something he does. ☺
Upon reflection of this strategy, I wonder if we might benefit from it as leaders. Emotional expression is an important leadership skill. If people around us can’t tell what we are thinking or feeling by our expressions and body language, they start to fill in the blanks themselves. And many times, it isn’t positive. Leaders set the tone and that is often done with an appropriate display of emotions.
I’m not suggesting that leaders be as dramatic as I was with my son (over-expressive leaders can cause just as much concern and unexpressive ones). What I am suggesting is that you increase your emotional self-awareness by paying attention to how you express yourself and calibrate it to a level that sets the proper tone for your people. With the increase of virtual meetings, the ability to see your own expressions on your monitor makes this task much easier.
Here are 4 reasons why Leaders should care about Emotional expression:
If people around us can’t tell what we are thinking or feeling by our expressions and body language, they start to fill in the blanks themselves.
Leaders set the tone and that is often done with an appropriate display of emotions.
Un-expressive leaders can cause just as much concern as over-expressive ones.
Increase your emotional self-awareness by paying attention to how you express yourself and calibrate it to a level that sets the proper tone for your people.