Email to a Friend

Return to Check Your Emotional Temperature

* Required Field

Your Name: *

Your E-Mail: *

Your Remark:

Friend's Name: *

Separate multiple entries with a comma. Maximum 5 entries.

Friend's E-Mail: *

Separate multiple entries with a comma. Maximum 5 entries.

 Loading ...

2 Responses to “Check Your Emotional Temperature”

1. Aled Davies / May 17th, 2013 at 6:22 am

   Thanks for the post. When the stakes are high for parties in any negotiation and I'm speaking predominantly about the negotiation phase within a mediation, parties are always in danger of being sabotaged by their own emotions. One of the problems I see is that many people perceive the expression of emotion as a weakness or inappropriate in a 'commercial setting'. I often hear the expression; 'let's not get emotional now', which reinforces this perspective. I'd argue however that emotions are important and valuable data points in a negotiation. For example if I'm feeling very uneasy about something that's being said or proposed but ignore that feeling, then I could risk making a decision that isn't in my interests. I need to tune in to my emotions to make sense of them, so my uneasiness could be a hunch that the other party has an agenda in the conversation but isn't being transparent about it. If I'm emotionally self aware then I'll tune into this, maybe follow the suggestion above and take a break to reflect and make sense of my internal reaction, come back and test out my hunch. There's a fabulous interview with Joanna Kalowski, an experienced Australian mediator who's mediated in highly sensitive inter-racial and political settings all over the world. Joanna was a member of the administrative appeals tribunal for 10 years and later a member of the National Native Title Tribunal where she mediated land claims by Aboriginal people to their traditional lands and waters. She describes vividly how emotions affect parties in mediation and negotiation settings and what to say in order to diffuse these incredibly tense moments. You can listen to that interview here: Mediator Academy Interviews hope that's useful. Best wishes Aled Reply

2. GregoryCanion / May 25th, 2013 at 7:59 am

   Very useful article. That really helps to keep emotions under control. Maybe it will need some time to pass, but in general everything is new and should work out. I didn’t know that my temperature rises when I’m nervous or angry. I also read other articles, linked here. Great information. Thanks. Reply