It's Becoming Okay to Talk About Feelings at Work

Written by Roxanne Brown

In a Joy Research Interview this week, a senior executive said this year one of the biggest changes that happened in her company is it became okay to talk about feelings at work. It started at the top. It started with one executive admitting how he was feeling, and then the floodgates opened. She thinks it’s highly likely that’s here to stay for them.

We’re wrapping our brains around the implications of this for the workplace. We’ve seen this trend all year but to hear it so definitively described by an executive working in an industry that’s quick to dismiss the relevancy of employee feelings, is exciting.

How can this humanness be sustained and built on in way that’s good for people and for business?

One thought: We know that change can happen in a way that’s good for people and the company. That’s why we love it. It just makes sense to us.

As a result of 2020, there may be an increased openness among leaders to talk about change in real human terms instead of in mostly transactional, bottom-line-y ways.

If leaders now see adaptability as part of their culture’s identity and if leaders are more open to talk about feelings at work, they may be more ready to take on bigger change, change they may have been sitting on for a while, change that could have a positive impact on the world.

That’s exciting.