The Cost of Emotions in the Workplace: The Bottom Line Value of Emotional Continuity Management

Finally – a people management guide that goes way beyond the typical "problem employee" books to help you understand and manage the entire emotional culture of your organization. Many of us have witnessed – sometimes in helpless horror – how a simple problem can spin into a corporate crisis as people take sides, outside professionals are brought in, and company reputations suffer, as this description illustrates: "Everything was exposed and raw as if a common energy had stripped away the veneer of civilized behaviors...People took sides, hid, ran, quit, overworked, underworked, ate too much, drank more, complained more, went silent, changed jobs, exited. They reacted as if all their system had been tossed into the air and was never going to land again." This wasn't the scene of a criminal act, earthquake, or terrorist attack. Rather, it was the disruptive and costly outcome of months of escalating workplace tension in the wake of changed management policies. Like a tornado, two violent co-workers had left 600 others in emotional rubble. That company could have been prepared with corporate policies and procedures to defuse such emotionally charged situations - long before alarming human and financial costs hit its bottom line. Managers could have learned to recognize and stop “emotional spinning” from gathering destructive force. The old paradigm of separating humans from humanity during work hours is not only antiquated thinking, it's high risk corporate behavior.
“Dr. Vali” calls her ground-breaking solution Emotional Continuity Management. She provides tools you can use right now to avoid costs in decreased productivity, injured goodwill, employee turnover, plummeting employee engagement, and severed business relationships.In this practical book, Dr. Vali gives you:
Real-life case studies that show you how to calculate bottom line, dollars and cents costs of disruptive employees and managers and emotionally charged incidents.
Proven techniques to help you identify variations in behavior that are early warning signs of trouble. She compares them to “tornado warnings” and provides a 5-point scale.
An understanding of the psychology driving “emotional terrorists,” who stage themselves as victims and gather an army of acolytes to assist in their campaigns of emotional disruption, and a game-plan for managing such attacks before, during and after an event.
Practical tools for managing workplace emotions before, during and after an emergency, based on the author’s extensive on-the-ground experience in counseling first responders and victims during major national and international disasters.
Policies and procedures for working with military veterans returning to the workplace - and the need to deal with PTSD.
Techniques for containing and mitigating the damage created by workplace bullies - and when to decide if an "amputation" is required or a less-extreme strategy is needed.
Sample policies and plans, and detailed instructions for company-wide training programs, up and down the organization.

Vali Hawkins Mitchell, Ph.D., LMHC, jokes that she made a career choice at birth: she was born in the middle of an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale!
"Call it fate, call it divine intervention or simply the result of a very impressionistic and inquisitive mind," she says, "but I've made a career of studying how individuals, organizations, and communities deal with the emotional reactions that come during and following crises or catastrophic disasters."
"Call it fate, call it divine intervention or simply the result of a very impressionistic and inquisitive mind," she says, "but I've made a career of studying how individuals, organizations, and communities deal with the emotional reactions that come during and following crises or catastrophic disasters."
Dr. Vali holds a Doctorate in Health Education and Masters degrees in Applied Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapy. She is a highly regarded public speaker, trainer, author, consultant, and educator.
A valued mentor and keynote speaker, she offers critical insights on the real human factors of disaster and emergency planning based on her experiences with major events such as the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina, Samoan earthquakes, the Indonesian tsunami, and Pacific Northwest Wildfires. She is considered by many as the leading authority in the growing field of Emotional Continuity Management.
As a counselor, she has been trained by the American Red Cross as a Disaster Mental Health provider and National Diversity Instructor, and has been engaged by the US Department of Defense to consult directly with military families, veterans, and service members in all branches since 2009.
As a business consultant and educator, Dr. Vali travels extensively, providing custom-designed trainings for individuals and teams, private and government agencies and businesses from mom-and-pop companies to large corporations.
Dr. Vali is the author of Emotional Terrors in the Workplace Protecting Your Bottom Line; Dr. Vali's Survival Guide: Tips for the Journey; Preparing a Go-Bag; and a number of plays, musicals, and children's titles. She is a performance musician and award-winning artist. She is a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT) and is based in Seattle, Washington.