Emotions as a determinant of Behavior:

• Neuroscience has now proven that making an emotional connection is an important enabler in the process of changing behavior.
• Emotions are our principal motivational system and the personality processes that give meaning and significance to our existance.
• Emotions are the core of our being and affect how we experience and see things.

^{Emotion affects Cognition (our thinking).
The new rule of "emotion before thought" explains how emotion provides us with an immediate reaction when there isn’t time to think and even directs our thoughts long-term. Our emotions act as magnets to either pull us into action or channel our energies in a particular direction. Our emotions are also an important means by which we evaluate situations and make decisions about what is appropriate in a given situation.}

Every time a decision is made, we subconsciously call upon an emotional memory, a FEELING that helps guide us. The coach therefore needs to learn how to get the coachee into contact with their emotions -their SELF GUIDANCE SYSTEM.

^{Unfortunately, organizations around the world are still mostly populated and controlled by "emotionalists" as few leaders have been trained to use emotions as part of their mental faculties.}

^{The role emotions play in shaping thinking can account for a large part of why we see a failure of good thinking in most leaders. Expectations for higher-order thinking still don’t translate into leaders or managers consistently using the critical and creative-thinking skills they were taught at school or in training classes. This is because their initial emotional reactions are carrying the day. In reality, professional coaching practitioners must pay attention to the affective side of cognition and help leaders and managers to develop their intellectual character and engage in productive patterns of thinking.}

^{The Need to Develop Emotional Skills in the Workplace
-Practical implications.
Emotional skills are essential for everyday managerial work. The traditional stereotype of the exclusively rational manager is now being replaced by one in which managers are expected to create and nourish positive relationships by effectively managing their own emotions and those of their employees.}

^{Managers need to be aware of the impact that their expressed emotions have on their work units' emotional climate, their employees' emotions, their effectiveness as well as that of their employees, and the organization's overall success.}

^{In our coaching sessions, we need to provide the coachee with meaningful opportunities to engage in the type of productive thinking to see and thus develop new thinking habits.}

^{Emotions is the 'force' to be reckoned with, and we ignore them at our peril.}