How to deal with anger in the workplace

Anger – it’s often labelled as bad or negative thing, but anger is actually a normal, healthy emotion.

But anger can fester, develop into resentment, can harm our careers and damage working relationships. We will always encounter situations that make us angry, but there are ways to express our feelings without erupting.

The below pointers have been published by CiC advisers who provide our employee assistance programme, to help express your anger and how to deal with those strong feelings.

Recognising when you are angry

When we deal with our anger early on, rather than allowing it to build up and overwhelm us, we can deal with it better. Signs of anger include:

• shallow breathing, faster heart rate
• feeling hot, sweating, shaking, rapid breathing
• persistent thinking, unable to let things go
• tensed muscles, clenched jaw and teeth grinding
• going quiet and shutting down
• desire to insult or criticise others.

When you are angry

Once you have recognised you are angry, the first thing to do is stop and ask yourself what you are angry about. Many people fall into the trap of trying to ignore their anger, pretending that everything is ok and minimising their feelings: the feelings of anger are then likely to return or turn into resentment. Remember that anger gives you important information about your situation and it needs to be acknowledged before you can decide what to do with it.

Dealing with strong feelings

Instead of acting immediately on your anger, you can use some simple strategies to give yourself time to calm down and think, such as:

• count to ten
• slow your breathing down, breathe out for longer than you breathe in
• leave the situation if you can, take a walk or get some fresh air
• speak to a supportive friend or colleague
• write down what you are feeling, this can often lead to more clarity.

You can gain further advice and support by emailing the Wellbeing hub, or ready more via the Employee Assistance Programme; go to the website www.well-online.co.uk and login using the details: user name - EEASTlogin / password - wellbeing.

Published 14th December, 2016