Why Emotions Trump Your KPIs (And What To Do About It)

Have you noticed too, like when I'm on the tarmac waiting for a flight or in a meeting in Parramatta or looking at the addicting sexiness of a KPI dashboard from the Melbourne CBD , suddenly emotions are everywhere? That's not fluff. It's biology, behaviour, business , in one, confounding melting pot of life.

Emotions are not a luxury. They're an operating system. Ignore them, and your best laid plans , those strategic initiatives, reorganisations of the team, innovation sprints , become stuck in human lag. Focus on that and you earn discretionary effort, better decisions and less churn.

I say that as someone who has led training rooms, executive coaching sessions and gruelling restructures across Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide for more than a decade. Some may roll their eyes at the thought that feelings have a place in the boardroom. That's fine. The evidence says otherwise.

Why the nervous system deserves a place on the org chart

The language of business has it that people are resources , line items, in other words , and are measured as hours, tasks and outputs. Neuroscience and organisational psychology paint a different picture.

The amygdala, the prefrontal cortex and a libation of neurotransmitters quietly steer how we pay attention, work together and solve problems. When a person's amygdala detects threat , a curt email, an abrupt reorganisation, a boss's raised voice , decision making tightens and risk perception accelerates. That isn't personality. It's physiology.

On the other hand, positive mood states open up thinking. Teams that feel safe and energised are more creative, share messier ideas willingly and persist when experiments fail. That isn't soft; it's performance driven design.

Some things I think , and yes, some will differ

Leaders who show modest vulnerability are stronger, not weaker. Acknowledging near term uncertainty is often more persuasive than a stand of certainty. To some executives, candour is a weakness. I've observed it work in the reverse.

• Sound emotional intelligence is as important as technical competence at leadership levels. You can find a dozen qualified technical managers; one who galvanises a team despite uncertainty is rare , and valuable.

Critics will argue this risks putting the "touchy feely" managers in charge over analytically rigorous ones. I disagree: the best leaders mix both.

• Regular "feelings check ins" (not therapy) should be part of a normal team rhythm. Many will call that intrusive. Done correctly, it is practical and respectful.

Here is a real statistic to bring us down to earth: Mental health is a Business problem. Around 1 in 5 Australians will experience a mental ill health condition each year. That's not just a matter of private concern , it is a workforce stat. It impacts presenteeism, absenteeism and the ability to serve customers.

Emotional contagion: the secret productivity hack that's so easy a toddler can do it

Emotions are contagious. If a team lead comes to a morning stand up visibly stressed, the mood of the team and its focus will be affected. That's emotional contagion , a lesser known form of influence. In successful teams, leaders set the tone: steady in a crisis, transparent in priorities, generous with praise.

It doesn't mean pretending that you're less than you are. It's about managing your inside so that what you do helps bring the results you seek. One practical thought: train managers to identify their own activation signals. Quick wins are tools like breathing techniques, moments of pause before difficult conversations and easy scripts for de escalation. These are not therapy techniques; they are leadership basics.

When emotions take over decision making

It happens to the best of us

We've all been there: a tense meeting; someone makes a biting or cutting comment; and then we're off into defensiveness. That's the amygdala hijack at work. It is, at this point, fast and automatic and not likely to be undone in a hurry without purposeful countermeasures.

Good practice in these situations does not include policing of positivity. It requires recognition and repair. Small moves such as noticing the emotional temperature ("I can sense this is escalating") and then calling time out, or asking for a recalibration question ("What do you think really matters here?") beat the room rather than carry on with the fight.

The physiology of stress , and why it's bad for you

Stress isn't just unpleasant. Chronically elevated cortisol due to stress damages the brain's complex cognitive processing and memory systems. Persistently switching it on wears out your battery and ramps up burnout risk.

Businesses that treat stress as an inevitable consequence of busyness will pay for it with lost productivity, innovation and staff retention. There are pragmatic levers one can pull to dial down destructive stress without sacrificing performance: reasonable workloads, clarity of role and purpose, and psychological safety. Design so that our failures treat us with data, not disgrace. Celebrate learning in small ways. Such cultural shifts take little in the way of resources but accumulate over time.

Emotional labour: The price of the smile

Not all emotional work is consensual. Many roles , customer service, frontline health care, the hospitality industry , involve emotional labour: having to handle your emotions in a way that satisfies your role requirements. Employees who habitually and inauthentically squelch or fake their feelings accumulate emotional dissonance, which in turn leads to burnout.

Organisations need to recognise this cost and build compensation, rotation, debriefing and recovery into role design.

The case for commercialising emotional intelligence training

Emotional intelligence (EI) training is not about creating "softies". It is about building skills: self awareness, self regulation, empathy and relationship management. These skills enhance communication, decrease strife and allow leaders to make more balanced decisions.

What works in EI training? Practical, contextualised learning. Workshops based on theory alone rarely change behaviour. Some of the most effective sessions incorporate short theory, role play on actual scenarios and measurable follow up , coaching, peer accountability and manager check ins.

When we're the ones designing programs, we then stress test them with managers from finance, operations and customer teams to validate that the scenarios are possible. That makes learning stick.

Some program principles I prefer:

• Make it applied: real workplace situations, not vignettes that could be true (or false).
• Measure impact: pre and post surveys, plus manager observations , not just participant satisfaction.
• Reinforce learning: three follow up touchpoints in the 90 days after training to embed habits.

Creating emotionally supportive workplaces

Building a culture where emotions are acknowledged and managed well isn't about having to talk it out all the time. It's about systems and practices that make the "healthy option" the easy option.

Small shifts that make a big difference:

• Make meetings start with quick check in and end with clearer next steps
• Train managers to "coach not judge" when performance is off.
• Provide practical supports , access to EAP, flexibility around carers, quiet places for decompression

And normalise time to recover after intensity of work , not as PR but operational resilience essential.

Communication protocols matter. Leaders speaking of change are required to do more than state the facts plainly. They should couch the emotional shock, explain the why, and leave room for questions. A badly managed restructure out in Sydney's suburbs is still a badly managed restructure; geography isn't relevant to emotional impact, it just lengthens the ripples.

Where emotional awareness meets structure

Some people worry that focusing on emotions is a diversion from hard metrics. That's a false dichotomy. Emotionally intelligent companies establish clear expectations and track results. They use emotional data , engagement scores, exit interviews, feedback loops , as early warning signs.

In short: You are able to be tough on outcomes and gentle on how people are treated in producing them.

One suggestion that may make some HR directors uncomfortable: Add measures of emotional intelligence to leadership KPIs. Not to blur the line on performance, but to recognise leaders who keep a strong grip on talent management and conflict management and encourage psychological safety. Measurement drives attention.

Conflict is good

The most common misunderstanding in many agencies or brands is mistaking conflict for failure. In fact, constructive conflict , when managed , is the power source of better decisions. Applaud disagreement, teach methods to come to a resolution and above all else establish habits on how difference can be managed.

When groups have rules around feedback (no personal attacks, focus on the behaviour, suggest alternatives), conflict becomes productive rather than destructive.

The limits of training , and what really changes behaviour

Training is not going to change a culture. It's the scaffolding: the manager behaviour, policies and incentives that actually make change possible. I've seen brilliantly run EI workshops where nothing changes because the next day, a manager went back to the same old behaviours. Alternatively, mild training combined with a strong infusion of good managerial example has done wonders for teams.

If you invest in only one thing this year, let it be manager development. Managers are also the major link between the Organisation and most employees' experience on a daily basis. Elevate their capacity and you change the system.

Tools: Immediately applicable

• The 60 second pause: Before replying to a provocative email, take 60 seconds to breathe and reframe. The first thing that typically flies through your head is not what you need to be thinking.

• A short phrase that acknowledges feelings ("That sounds frustrating , let's unpack it") helps diffuse heat and invite collaboration.

• If a meeting has careened off course, ask "What decision are we trying to make here?" It's a refocus on outcomes versus points.

• Behavioural norms: co create with the team what meetings and feedback will be like. When teams own the rules, they're more likely to adhere to them.

A word about measurement

If you want leaders to care about feelings, measure the effect of them. Leverage engagement surveys; survey turnover in high turnover teams; track longitudinal customer satisfaction correlations. That's not wishful thinking; those are leading indicators to the business.

One of the practical metrics I use is a humble weekly pulse: three questions, two minutes. The data is immediately actionable, it reflects trends and gives managers a reason for quick, regular check ins.

Structure and emotion

Emotion depends on structure. Stiff hierarchies can silence people; overly flat organisations can lack clear decision making and raise anxiety. Design organisations that optimise for autonomy and clear responsibility.

Make decision rights explicit , and communicate them over and over. Where decisions are opaque, anxiety rushes in to fill the void. This gets back to the element of leadership: Leaders who know how to articulate limits and create psychological safety minimise the need for people to guess or perform.

Final, highly inconvenient thought

We will always pursue tools, platforms and incentives to lift performance. Those are important. Just remember: The biggest lever, by far, to change the output of a team is the people in it. You can teach everyone digital literacy and throw money at systems, but if the day to day emotional culture is poor, you'll still fight for impact.

We deliver training and coaching that bridge the gap between neuroscience and real life behaviour change. We can't promise to fix policy or redraw org charts for a Company, but we do work with leaders who believe that the human system is as important as the business system.

Reflect on the last team you led. What was the atmosphere at 4.30pm on a busy Friday? That says more about your operating system than the newest one page strategic plan. Change that and you change the consequences.