One of my favorite authors on happiness and self development is Gretchen Rubin. In her new book on Habits and Happiness, she talks about emotional contagions and how to manage around them. In the workplace, negative emotional contagions can cause disengagement and can be toxic to team performance and morale.

Because of the psychological phenomenon of “emotional contagion” we “catch” emotions from other people. Even strangers catch emotions from one another, after the most fleeting contact, and people can catch emotions through a phone conversation, a person’s silent presence, or even a glance at a picture of a happy or angry face. The more emotionally expressive people are, the more infectious their emotions.

Positive and negative emotions are contagious. It’s helpful to be aware of how your mood might be lifting you up or dragging you down – or how you might be affecting others.

If you’d like help developing a stronger positive emotional contagion, I can help! Please contact me to work with you and/or your team.

To learn more about Gretchen Rubin’s book on Habits, click here.