7 Steps to Defusing Anger in the Workplace

Date: April 26, 2013

With 45% of people regularly losing their tempers at work and 65% of people experiencing office rage, according to the Mental Health Organisation’s Boiling Point report, workplace anger is far from uncommon. Joseph Shrand, author of Outsmarting Anger: 7 Strategies for Defusing Our Most Dangerous Emotion, offers tips for moving past anger at work.

1. Acknowledge the anger. Overlooking anger isn’t healthy, whether it’s yours or an employee’s. It can cause high blood pressure, a high heart rate and other issues. Acknowledging the feelings of anger is in most cases, healthy.

2. Reroute the anger. Now that you’ve acknowledged the anger, put it into perspective. Start asking yourself questions: Is the anger justified? Is a confrontation needed? Is a confrontation worth the consequences?

3. Come up with a plan. It’s important to allow time for the angry parties to calm down. Then, they should decide whether they want to put that anger into action. If so, they should come up with a plan.

4. Contemplate consequences. No plan is complete until it has been evaluated based on the possible consequences. If the pros outweigh the cons, bring your concerns to the source in a respectful manner.

When at work, there are times when someone else’s anger can get in the way of success. Here are a few tips for when you’re faced with an angry employee:

5. Approach with peace. There are cells in the brain called mirror neurons, which mirror back what someone else is doing. If you approach an employee or co-worker with anger, chances are they will respond with anger, Shrand says.

6. Engage empathy. Try to understand where the other person’s anger is coming from. Do they feel disrespected? Is there a problem with another co-worker? If you show interest in hearing their side of the story, their anger is more likely to be defused.

7. Communicate clearly. Miscommunication can easily occur when emotions are running high. Being clear and emphasizing that you want to find a solution to the problem together can go a long way toward calming down the anger.

If you find yourself in a situation where someone is physically exhibiting signs of anger, Shrand suggests going for a walk, exercising, or tackling a difficult mental problem to engage the body in another way. The most important thing to remember is that anger isn’t the problem; it’s what you do with it that matters.

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