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Tips to Use to Manage Your Emotions as a Leader

Many emotions can arise for leaders in the workplace, such as frustration or anxiety, that can damage your relationships with your employees and negatively impact your professional reputation if not handled appropriately. A critical factor for effective leadership is regulating one’s emotional state, which can be improved with intentional practice. Learn more with these tips to use to manage your emotions as a leader:

1. Cultivate Self-Awareness

Everyone is different in how they navigate their emotions in the workplace. Identifying your patterns and triggers can help determine where to focus your efforts. Cultivate self-awareness related to how you manage your emotions. Objectively assess what situations tend to upset you, the specific feelings that arise, how you’ve reacted, and if you’ve experienced adverse effects due to your actions.

2. Take Time to Respond

Once you know what situations contribute to an emotional response, you can be proactive about not automatically reacting to it in a manner that you may regret later. Take time to respond whenever you realize you are in a triggering situation. Wait a few moments and breathe so you can feel more in control, and then you can determine how to approach it once you have collected yourself.

3. Accept Your Circumstances

A common factor that can cause anger or nervousness as a leader is when you are dealing with things that are unfair, inefficient, or otherwise not optimal. Accept your circumstances rather than getting yourself riled up by ruminating over what you cannot change. This will prevent you from having outbursts or otherwise upsetting yourself for things outside your control.

4. Challenge Your Perspective

A way to empower yourself and reduce the negative impact of situations as a leader is to think about it differently. Challenge your perspective about a specific event and try to reframe it positively or neutrally, such as considering ways you could find gratitude or learn and grow from it.

5. Reach Out to a Support Network

Being validated by others can make you feel less alone and put you in a better headspace to handle whatever comes your way. Reach out to a support network who you feel comfortable confiding in. They can provide advice or at least a sense of understanding to help you manage your emotions in a productive manner.

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