Consider for a moment what happens when you drop a stone into water. The stones swift plummet pierces the water surface, sending ripples in all directions. Your outpouring of emotions are like stones that send ripples through the people in your life. Since emotions are the primary drivers of your behaviour, it important you understand the effect they have on other people. Let us say a manager loose his cool and berates an employee in front of the rest of the team. When the lashing happens, it may seem that the manager's target is the only one whose feelings get bruised, but the ripple effect from the manager's explosion affects who witnessed it. As the rest of the team members wonder back to their desks, the others, too, feel the manager's wrath. They go back to work with a pit in their stomach, each one wondering when his or her turn will come up.
The manager thinks his tirade was good for productivity because the rant " scared people straight," but their fear soon settles into caution. To perform at their best the team members need to take risks, stretch themselves beyond their comfort zone, and even make some mistakes along the way. No one wants to be the manager's next target, so the team members play it safe and do only as they are told. When the manager gets docked a year later for leading a team that fails to take initiative he wonders whats wrong with the team.
Your emotions are powerful weapons, and continuing to think that their effects are instant and minimal will only do you a dis-service. The key to observing the ripple effects of your emotions is to watch closely how they impact other people immediately, and then you start information as a guide for how your emotions are bound to effect a wider circle long after you unleashed the emotion. To fully understand the ripple effects of your emotions, you will need to spend some time reflecting upon your behaviour. You will also need to ask other people how they are affected by your emotions. The more you understand how your emotions ripple outward the better equipped you will be to choose the type of ripples that you want to create.
