Emotions are not a side note in working life — they are the invisible force shaping decisions, interactions and collaboration
Emotional leadership is often talked about as the ability to deal with other people’s emotions. But in reality, its foundation is self-awareness. And a core part of self-awareness is the ability to lead your own emotions.
When a leader doesn’t recognize or regulate their own emotions, other things start leading them instead: hurry, pressure, uncertainty, expectations or even old learned reaction patterns. But when emotional self-leadership works, the leader is present, open and able to influence their environment constructively.
For me, emotional leadership consists of four steps:
🔹 1. Recognizing your emotions
What am I feeling right now? What is this emotion telling me? Noticing the signals from the body and mind is the starting point.
🔹 2. Naming the emotion
Naming brings the emotion forward and makes it understandable.
“I feel nervous.” “I’m irritated.” “I feel gratitude.” “I’m worried.”
Naming a feeling is the first step toward being able to talk about it.
🔹 3. Emotion regulation
The ability to calm the body and mind so you can act in the best possible way in each situation — guided by your values, not by a momentary emotional reaction.
🔹 4. Leading your own emotions
Emotions are information, not commands. Leadership is the ability to choose how you act with the emotion and what you allow it to influence.
A key part of leading your own emotions is also the ability to verbalize them when needed and model professional emotional processing for the people you lead.
When these skills are practiced personally, you can also lead emotions in others: observe, verbalize, support and strengthen their emotional state — without being pulled into reactive behavior yourself.
And this matters enormously in organizations, because emotions are contagious. A leader’s emotional state can raise or lower the entire team’s energy and atmosphere.
That’s why emotional leadership isn’t “soft leadership,” but strategic leadership: it builds culture, strengthens collaboration, improves decision-making and increases resilience.
👉 How does your organization practice emotional leadership?
Want to talk more? Send me a message!
Minna
📩 if.nenolavcc@annim
☎️ +358 50 5402 530
This has been published in LinkedIn in 2025.
emotionalleadership leadership #selfawareness emotionalskills coachingstyleleadership #organizationaldevelopment resilience
