Emotionally charged situations in organisations may be unavoidable in some instances, for example, when employees have to be told that downsizing is happening or when any other kind of unpleasant news may have been communicated. Because employees are human beings, they have emotional responses which impact how they respond to any given situation.

When addressing emotionally charged people, one of the most important approaches is empathy. Empathy skills involve paying attention to other people by listening, attending to needs and wants of others, and building relationships. 

Managers need to be empathetic because they have to communicate with employees often and direct their work. For example, an employee may get emotionally charged when he/she is assigned a task they may not like or when offered criticism and he/she gets defensive. Empathy goes hand in hand with focusing back to the goals and the tasks at hand. When an employee comes/responds with negative feedback, the best response is to, first of all, think about what he/she is saying and what needs addressing. It is an empathetic approach because it goes beyond what is being said. Empathy involves genuine curiosity and a desire to know or understand what the person is saying and feeling. To express empathy verbally, some good questions to ask could be, “Can you say more about that?”; “Really? That’s interesting. Can you be more specific?”; “I wasn’t aware of that. Tell me more.” Managers and leaders who are high in empathy skills can pick up emotional cues. They can appreciate why a person is saying it, not only what is being said.

Verbally, I would also provide validation to the emotionally charged employee(s) for the way they feel, followed with a solution, if possible. If he/she is distraught because he is told that he has to repeat an assignment done unsatisfactorily, an appropriate response would be, “I understand that it’s stressful to have to repeat the assignment. I suggest that you put the other responsibilities on hold for a day so that you can have enough time to get this one done excellently. I trust that you are very capable of getting it perfectly done.” This kind of response, coupled with a calm tone of voice will calm the person down and provide reassurance to them, that they are being cared for and trusted, motivating them to do an even better job.

Another way to address emotionally charged employees is to listen to them without interrupting them. This is a non-verbal communication tool that shows the person that their message is important and worth one’s attention. Viewpoints can then be offered once the other person is done talking. Interruptions while the other person is talking will only fan the emotional flames and end up causing more conflict and tempers flare. Offering a listening ear will therefore go a long way in calming the emotionally charged person down, and they will be able to also listen once I am also talking.

Keeping and showing calmness is also a very important non-verbal communication cue when dealing with emotionally charged employees. Even when the environment gets tense, it is important to remain calm and not let their tempers get the best of me as a manager. When listening to the ranting, for example, I would nod my head to show that I am calm and avoid crossing my arms or even frowning. When the emotionally charged employee(s) realise that, they would also be inclined to calm down. 

Being able to successfully deal with emotionally charged employees will enhance relationships in the organisation, leading towards the motivation of employees because they feel genuinely concerned about. This will give them the impetus to perform better.