Leaders often view emotions in the workplace as disruptions.

Leaders who treat emotions in the workplace as signals to engage and support can respond more effectively.

Seeing employees as "ingroup" members shifts how a leader responds when they're under stress.

What makes a great leader? Many organizations tend to select leaders who can get things done. They produce outcomes on schedule and on budget with minimal fuss.

This outcomes-focused approach to leadership has resulted in some counterintuitive trends in studies of leaders. Research has found that leaders, particularly at high levels such as CEO, tend to score high on psychopathy, which manifests as a tendency to prioritize their own goals and outcomes without considering the impact on other people. These types of leaders can be effective at creating change, but often at a price for the people and the organization as a whole.

Growing awareness about the cost of this type of leadership to retention and productivity has led organizations to restructure around a “people first” approach. In this emerging view, great leaders must have the key skill of supporting their teams, especially during times of stress when emotions run high. People naturally vary in their ability to take others’ perspectives and support them, a skill often included under the broader umbrella of emotional intelligence. This skill can also be intentionally developed through practice and habit-building.

The Perception of Ingroup vs. Outgroup

Decades of studies in psychology have shown that we respond differently to people who are part of our “ingroup” versus the “outgroup.” Exactly who qualifies as ingroup or outgroup is not based on objective standards; it is based on perceptions and can be changed just by randomly placing people on........

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