Have you ever experienced a moment either
professionally or personally where things begin to change? Maybe there was an
instance where you began to really enjoy the company of your favorite coworker.
Maybe your boss gave you very bad advice and you began to think differently
about them. Have you ever had a conversation or moment with your leader that
began to positively change your opinion?
In borrowing a term from complexity theory Boyatzis (2006) stated that
these moments are known as tipping points.
Boyatzis (2013) stated that change is not a process
that continuously occurs and instead a change occurs with tipping points. So,
what is a tipping point? According to Gladwell (2017), “The tipping point is
that magic moment when an idea, diagnosis, trend, or social behavior crosses a
threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire” (Gladwell, 2017, para.1). In other
words, a tipping point is an instance where a change begins to take place. My
girlfriend is a huge fan of Taylor Swift who was responsible for a tipping
point in social behavior. Taylor Swift began wearing dresses and cowboy boots
in her music videos which created a trend that began to spread like wildfire
(Gladwell, 2017). In our personal lives, the tipping point can be created by
negative or positive emotions.
Boyatzis, Rochard, & Taylor (2015) described both
the positive emotional attractor (PEA) and negative emotional attractor (NEA).
According to Boyatzis et al. (2013), the PEA is described by positive emotions
such as optimism and resonance. On the other hand, the NEA incorporates
negative emotions such as fear, anger, and dissonance (Boyatzis, et al., 2015).
I began to think about times that I have experienced a tipping point in my professional
life and determined that I have experienced tipping points encouraged by both
negative and positive emotional attractors.
A couple of years ago, I was included in an office
game of musical chairs which ended in me being assigned to a new supervisor.
The previous supervisor was someone who could be described as dissonant. This
individual liked to micro-manage while also creating a culture that did not
include autonomy. This type of leadership affected me negatively by creating
stress and reducing my self-confidence. This particular leader also began to
cause me to create errors and I began to work much harder to make sure that no
mistakes were made. However, I created some sort of vicious circle where the
fear of making mistakes led to me making more mistakes. I began to feel like I
was getting trapped in the sacrifice syndrome. Boyatzis & McKee (2005)
described sacrifice syndrome as withstanding great sacrifice for long periods
of time without receiving any benefits. My stress level was high which caused
me to also be dissonant. I would be lying through my teeth if I said I did not
appreciate the changes in the office.
The tendency to display learned helplessness continued
to follow me to my new supervisor. For the first several weeks, I asked them
how they would like reports to be presented, I would check with them before
making journal entries, and I would ask them questions regarding my general
work. About a month after the transition
I went in to ask a question and they requested me to sit so we could have a
conversation. They told me that I had been dealing with this area of the
college longer than they have and they trusted my judgment. They said that if
there were mistakes or if they preferred a report a certain way then they would
let me know. They told me that I was doing a great job and that they trusted me.
Boyatzis (2013) stated that individuals who move us into
the PEA assist us in opening up our world of possibilities or believe and have
confidence in us. My new supervisor showed that she trusted my decisions. This
tipping point helped me begin to feel more comfortable in my job. It helped me
drop the self-doubt and learned helplessness and I began to be more confident
on a daily basis. In this instance, I am not sure I would do anything
differently. I attempted to take her positive compliments and use them in a way
to help build not only me but my production at work, which I believe I was able
to do.
As noted earlier, Boyatzis (2013) mentioned that
change is not continuous but happens through these tipping points. The tipping
point with my leader created a positive change in our relationship. However,
there have been tipping points which had the adverse effect and began to create
a less positive relationship.
Several years ago I worked on a report that had to be
presented to the State of Florida. I meticulously worked on the report for
weeks and sent it to my supervisor for review and approval a week before the
deadline. She and I spent time verifying that all of the numbers were correct
before it was sent to the department that was responsible for presenting the
data. My supervisor then went over the data with the Executive Director of the
department and no changes were made. I chalked it up to another successful year
and moved on with my work.
Fast forward to the day before the reports are due. On
this day my supervisor was out sick and I received a call from the Vice
President of my department asking me to come to their office. I arrive to find
the assistant director of the department that was responsible for the report
also in the office. He then goes on a rant about how the report is wrong. He
stated that the numbers were wrong and the report was pulling the incorrect
data. He also was irate that we were shorting the department potential revenue
to be matched by the state. I assured him that the numbers had been verified by
multiple accountants and that they were correct. His anger did not subside
which caused me to have negative emotional attractors.
My Vice President eventually asked me to correct the
numbers because he was not going to back down. I corrected the numbers and the
report was sent to the state, but looking back at the event, this was a tipping
point wrapped in negative emotions. I was so angry at how the situation
unfolded. I felt anxiety and disgust knowing that the report had been turned in
incorrectly despite my warning. Boyatzis (2013) stated that we tend to remember
negative emotions for a much longer amount of time. In this case, the statement
is 100% true. I remember the anger and fear I felt that day. I remember going
to the doctor after work and being so frustrated that they said if my blood pressure
did not go down that I would be sent to the hospital (which did help to calm me
down).
This instance also served as a tipping point in the
relationship I had with the assistant director as our relationship was tainted
from this point. When my supervisor returned, she was made abreast of the
situation and spoke to the assistant director. It was determined that the
numbers for the report were correctly compiled the first time. She spoke with
the representative for the State and was able to submit the correct report. The
thing I remember the most about this situation was the sadness created by the
lack of trust. Looking back on the situation, I let my negative emotions get
the best of me. Boyatzis and McKee (2005) stated that mindfulness and
compassion are two keys to resonance. I wish I would have remained mindful and
compassionate throughout this example. If so, I may have avoided the negative
tipping point.
References
Boyatzis, R. (2006). Using tipping points of emotional
intelligence and cognitive competencies to predict financial performance of
leaders. Psicothema, 18(1), 124-131.
Retrieved from http://www.psicothema.com/psicothema.asp?id=3287
Boyatzis, R. (2013). 4.2 Module 4.2 the positive (PEA)
and negative (NEA) emotional attractors [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFiTIzGPvH4
Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant leadership. Boston, MS: Harvard
Business School Publishing.
Boyatzis, RE., Rochford, K, & Taylor, SN. (2015).
The role of the positive emotional attractor in vision and shared vision:
Toward effective leadership, relationships, and engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 6 (670). Doi:
10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00670
Gladwell, M. (2017). The Tipping Point. Retrieved from
gladwell.com: http://gladwell.com/the-tipping-point/
No comments:
Post a Comment