Are Your Anger Problems Impacting Your Performance At Work?

It can be a challenge to balance our needs in the workplace. Stressful situations are all too common, and we’ve all been in one of those situations before. You know—when the project you have poured weeks of hard work into is canceled, or when a coworker snaps at you during a meeting in front of your entire team, or maybe your boss assigns you more work when you’re already at your maximum capacity. In our personal life, anger reaction to stressful situations may lead to a shouting match or retreating to one’s bedroom to have a pity party for one! But in the workplace, shouting at the boss or co-worker can have dollar and cents consequences in addition to harming your professional reputation and career advancement. If you tend to see things as black or white, right or wrong then it may be difficult to accept situations you perceive to be unfair. However, the ability to regulate your emotions and control your anger urge/behavior can make the difference between obtaining that promotion or not.

If you have anger problems, it’s important to take control of your mind—before it controls you.

So, how can you become better about navigating and getting a handle on your emotions and “choosing” the right anger response when you feel your blood start to boil? Here are a few simple steps to manage your anger response constructively:

• Develop an awareness of current people, places, things and situations that trigger your anger emotion.
• Write down/journal your thoughts, feelings and actions that result from these triggers.
• Develop an awareness of how you express/behave when angered and learn alternative techniques to avoid damaging relationships.
• Learn to describe situations factually, avoiding blame and judgments.
• Learn and practice calming techniques to reduce anger such as deep breathing exercises, yoga, walking, meditation, journaling, time out, counting to ten.

If you’ve tried doing all of the above and find that you are still struggling contact NewPoint of View Counseling. My goal is to help you become effective in your work environment, reduce stress and keep your self-respect and calm when faced with that annoying coworker. Anger is an emotion; it is neither right nor wrong. What you do when you experience anger may be the problem. I can help you to develop more effective communication skills by teaching you ways to get your needs met while behaving in a calm manner. These skills will maintain or enhance your relationships, end destructive friendships or interactions, keep your self-respect and obtain your goals. Ready to get started? Contact NewPoint of View today!