How Should Leaders Deal With Anger? 10 Tips to Follow
The following contribution corresponds to the portal masteringanger.com and its author Dr. Carlos Todd, PhD, LCMHC, who specializes in anger management, family, marital and premarital conflict resolution. Dr. Todd, founder of Conflict Coaching & Consulting, PLLC, seeks to provide the world with the most effective tools to manage life’s conflicts. Dr. Todd is part of a select group of people who can claim to have experience in conflict management that has been proven with academic rigor.
Being a leader is not an easy task. It is true that leaders have a lot of power over their team and subordinates, but the job also comes with many responsibilities and pressures. More often than not, all that pressure can be difficult to handle and can end up triggering an anger outburst. How leaders manage their anger in such moments contributes greatly to their performance.
How leaders deal with anger
Anger and the stress that comes with it make it difficult for a leader to focus on their tasks and goals as they are too wrapped up in their emotions.
By losing focus, you also lose the ability to process new information, evaluate, and make the best decisions. In addition to all the other negative consequences, this can severely reduce a leader’s performance.
Why is it important for leaders to manage their anger?
Why is it important for leaders to manage anger
It is normal to face anger issues when playing a leadership role as you can become emotionally invested in the progress of the company and the performance of your team.
If you perceive a threat, it can automatically trigger an anger response. However, if you do not learn to control your anger as a leader, it can affect more than just your performance.
Displaying angry outbursts in the workplace can damage your reputation in front of your subordinates, colleagues, and bosses
A one-off event can generate a bit of drama and gossip. However, if you constantly struggle to control your anger as a leader, you may be labeled as a volatile and impulsive leader.
All of this can create an atmosphere of animosity at work, where your team might be afraid to approach you. They might even be forced to leave their job. As a result, the company as a whole suffers and your credibility as a good leader is harmed.
10 Tips for Leaders to Manage Anger at Work
Anger is not an entirely negative emotion. If managed and expressed correctly, it certainly has its benefits as well. But it all depends on how competent leaders handle anger.
Here are some ways to manage anger as a leader:
– Own your anger
– Assess why you are angry
– Take a break
– Avoid assumptions
– Work on Emotional Intelligence
– Invest time in self-care
– Use humor
– Do a quick workout
– Avoid triggers
– Sign up for anger management classes
1 – Accept your anger
First, you need to acknowledge your anger. Competent leaders know to acknowledge and accept it and then learn to control it and express it constructively.
Don’t deny that you are angry or try to blame others. In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to say that someone or something is making you angry.
In fact, ignoring your true emotions or simply ignoring them can turn into physical problems. So, accept that you feel angry, without blaming others or yourself, and then you can figure out exactly why you feel so angry.
2 – Evaluate why you are angry
Once you have accepted that you feel angry, the next step is a little easier. Now you have to start thinking about why you feel angry.
Anger is a powerful emotion that makes you lose focus and the ability to think rationally.
When you force yourself to think about why exactly you are angry, you can regain some of that rationality and allow your anger to calm down a bit.
Some questions you can ask yourself include what threat am I perceiving, how big is this threat, and what steps can I take to deal with this effect.
3 – Take a Break
One of the best ways to manage anger as a leader is to simply take a break. You won’t believe how something as simple as a short break can do wonders to calm you down.
When you are engaged in a heated debate and your emotions are getting out of control, simply take a moment to pause and step away from that situation for a while.
You can go out for a coffee or just take a walk outside your office. Putting some distance between you and the situation can help you calm down and view the event more objectively.
4 – Avoid Assumptions
The worst thing about anger is that it can sometimes cause you to lose control. At such times, you may say or do things, intentionally or unintentionally, that can hurt the other person, thereby straining the relationship. Typically, these actions are the result of assumptions that leaders may make when they are in a state of anger.
Don’t Make Assumptions
Therefore, when leaders feel angry, they should try their best not to make assumptions and give the other person the benefit of the doubt.
The intern you assume is purposely making mistakes may be trying their best and may still be learning.
5 – Work on Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) is a person’s ability to understand and control their emotions and the emotions of those around them.
EI is as important for competent leaders as IQ or other technical skills.
A leader with a high emotional quotient is able to recognize their emotions quickly and manage their anger.
Increasing your emotional intelligence is not easy, but it is not impossible either.
It requires constant effort and a constant look at how people around you behave, reflecting on your actions, how you respond to others, etc.
6 – Invest time in self-care
Invest time in self-care
Sometimes anger in leaders can also be a side effect of other issues. For example, if work is too hard, the leader may become stressed and anxious and, as a result, more prone to angry outbursts.
That is why it is important to practice self-care to maintain optimal mental health at all times.
You can practice yoga, meditate, keep a journal, or engage in any other hobby or interest that helps you relax.
Self-care can also include getting a good night’s sleep, eating healthy, spending time with loved ones, or even attending online anger management classes.
7 – Use humor
A joke will be the last thing on your mind when you are overwhelmed by anger. However, humor can be an effective tool for managing anger as a leader. When you are angry with a certain person, you can make a joke to diffuse the situation and improve your relationship with that person.
Laughing a little can relieve tension in your body and allow you to calm down. Once you have calmed down, you will be able to think about the situation rationally without getting angry.
8 – Get in a quick workout
Exercising already has many physical and emotional benefits, including the ability to help reduce anger.
Physical exercises can relax your muscles, allowing you to release tension. Plus, when you exercise, your body releases certain endorphins that make you feel happy, counteracting angry feelings.
A quick workout also forces you to breathe deeply, which further calms you down and reduces your anger. You don’t have to do anything intense either. A simple brisk walk in the nearest park or a quick run on the treadmill will do the trick.
9 – Avoid triggers
If you’ve been struggling with anger for a while, you may know exactly what triggers it. So, it would be a good idea to avoid those triggers whenever you can.
If meetings that happen at the end of the day stress you out, try scheduling them earlier. If a certain colleague gets on your nerves, reach out to them via email instead of in person.
However, this is only a short-term solution. You will need to find a permanent solution through online classes or by seeking professional help.
10 – Enroll in an Anger Management Class
If you feel like you need a little help on your journey to anger management, you can always opt to take anger management classes.
Our classes are designed by experts for leaders who have difficulty controlling their anger or who have been ordered by a court to attend anger management classes.
The curriculum includes several modules and teaches different ways to express anger in a healthy way.
There are 4-hour, 6-hour, 8-hour, 26-hour, 36-hour, and 52-hour classes, depending on your needs and preferences.
Competent leaders can benefit from these classes to control their emotions and perform better in their leadership roles.
Conclusion
The way leaders manage anger plays a major role in their professional success, interpersonal relationships, and overall mental well-being.
Learning to control a healthy emotion like anger can help motivate leaders to strive for better performance, deal with injustices at work, and survive difficult situations.
What’s more, only when you learn to control your anger as a leader can you learn to deal with the anger of others as well
Especially when you are in a leadership position, you are likely to also be faced with anger and complaints from other people. With the tips we provide and online courses, you can quickly learn how leaders can control anger.
7 Ways Leaders Keep Their Composure in Tough Times
The following contribution is from Forbes magazine and is authored by Glenn Llopis who is a journalist covering leadership strategy and its impact on business growth in the corporate, healthcare and higher education sectors. Since 2010, he has covered leadership topics that drive business transformation including: inclusion as a growth strategy, personalized leadership, how individuality is transforming work environments, opportunity management and self-directed reinvention.
For the past 6 years, Glenn has exclusively covered the Leadership in the Age of Personality and Healthcare in the Age of Personality summits, which bring together over 450 global executives focused on destroying the limitations of standardization to thrive in today’s age of personalization. A UCLA graduate and CEO of GLLG, Glenn is the author of the books Earning Serendipity, The Innovation Mentality, Leadership in the Age of Personality, Unleashing Individuality, and Make Reinvention Your Superpower. Follow Llopis for ongoing coverage on how to transform work environments while reinventing the ways we work in the face of resistance.
Leaders need to display more composure than ever in the workplace. With change management requirements, increased market demands, and intensifying competitive factors around us, leaders must have greater poise, agility, and patience to minimize the impact of uncertainty.
How leaders respond to these and other increasing pressures is an indicator of their readiness, maturity and insight as leaders.
A leader’s composure is reflected in his or her attitude, body language and overall presence
In today’s changing business environment, it is clear that leadership is not just about improving people’s performance, fitness and development, but rather about the ability to make people feel safe and secure.
Employees have grown tired of working in survival mode and therefore want to be part of a work culture where they can get back to doing their best work without the fear of losing their jobs.
I worked with a colleague who lacked composure and was always panicking
Although he had excellent credentials, he lacked the ability to remain calm and therefore often made his employees feel uncomfortable.
His role as a leader was too big for what he was able to handle. He was often overly dramatic and the slightest problem would throw him into crisis management mode. Needless to say, his leadership was not effective at dealing with real crises and changes. Because he was unable to reinvent himself and adapt to the unexpected, his tenure was short-lived.
The 21st Century Leader Views Adversity Through the Lens of Opportunity
Instead of panicking, a composed leader steps back and begins to connect the dots of opportunity in adverse circumstances.
These types of leaders quickly spot the causes of adversity and resolve them immediately.
They then enable previously unseen opportunities that could have prevented the adversity from occurring in the first place. Many times, crises arise when composure is lacking.
The next time a problem arises, ask yourself if you or your leader could have shown a greater sense of composure and prevented the problem from surfacing.
Avoid Showing Signs of Immaturity
When leading, especially in times of uncertainty and adversity, crisis and change, you must avoid showing signs of leadership immaturity or lack of preparation that make your employees feel insecure.
Here are seven ways to maintain leadership composure during times of greatest pressure:
- Don’t let your emotions get in the way
Experienced leaders know not to let their emotions get in the way. They don’t yell or get too excited when times get tough. These types of leaders have such emotional self-control that not even their body language gives them away.
When you allow your emotions to get in the way, employees interpret it as a sign that you are not being objective enough and too passionate about the situation at hand.
Strong-willed leaders can maintain their composure and still express concern and care, but not to the point that their emotions become a distraction, or that they are unable to responsibly handle the issues at hand.
- Don’t Take Things Personally
Leaders shouldn’t take things personally when things don’t go their way. Company decisions and circumstances don’t always play out logically because office politics and other dynamics influence the process. As a leader, stay calm and don’t get defensive or feel like you always have to justify your thoughts and actions.
When you start taking things personally, it’s hard to maintain composure and make those around you believe you have things under control. In fact, when leaders take problems too seriously, they allow the noise and politics around them to stifle their thinking and decision-making ability.
- Maintain a Positive Mental Attitude
Employees are always watching their leaders’ actions, behavior, relationships, and overall demeanor. During the most difficult times, leaders must maintain a positive mental attitude and manage a narrative that keeps their employees inspired and hopeful.
This is where your experience and determination as leaders can really shine – by staying strong, smiling often, and authentically exhibiting a sense of compassion.
Leaders set the tone for the organization they serve
A positive attitude can neutralize chaos and allow a leader to course-correct despite any negativity.
Employees feed off the attitude of these leaders in times of uncertainty. Maintain a positive mental attitude and never stop moving forward.
Stay focused on building positive momentum to improve the health of the whole.
- Don’t be afraid
When leaders project confidence, they instill it in others. During times of uncertainty, leaders must remain courageous and project a calm personality that conveys serenity to those they lead.
I have been through ups and downs in my career and have learned that when one begins to fear adverse circumstances, not only does one put oneself in a position of vulnerability, but it becomes extremely difficult to act rationally and objectively. When you panic, you mentally freeze and your mind loses focus.
When you start to feel afraid, ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? If you are objective about it and have the will and confidence to face it, you will eventually realize that the situation is mana
