Every work milieu has unspoken organisational expectations of “professionalism.” In many caring organisations (health, education, disability), professionalism is defined as being calm and in control in the face of complexity and instability. What this means in a practical setting is that an individual’s inner turmoil is masked and managed to present the expected emotions, potentially to the detriment of the employee’s well-being.
When individual employees’ actual emotional responses do not align with the organisation’s feeling rules, employees have to work to manage their emotions. The psychological effort generated by superficial acting could result in emotional burnout.
Validate heart work in 2 ways
First, organisational members should recognise which emotions are expected to be managed as a part of employment, and be aware of situations that generate intensified emotional labour.
Second, people in leadership roles should provide appropriate avenues for the safe expression of organisationally inappropriate emotions after difficult situations.
Simply asking the question: “Are you OK? Do you need time, a space or a person to talk to right now?” can go a long way to minimising the effect of highly charged emotional labour.
Validating the heart work of employees can reconnect them to their passions to persevere with superficial acting during emotionally difficult times.
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