Figure 7.14

Death and money can be emotional topics. Sales reps at American
Express Company’s (NYSE: AXP) life insurance division had to deal
with both these issues when selling life insurance, and they were
starting to feel the strain of working with such volatile emotional
materials every day. Part of the problem representatives faced
seemed like an unavoidable side effect of selling life insurance.
Many potential clients were responding fearfully to the sales
representatives’ calls. Others turned their fears into anger. They
replied to the representatives’ questions suspiciously or treated
them as untrustworthy.
The sales force at American Express believed in the value of
their work, but over time, customers’ negative emotions began to
erode employee morale. Sales of policies slowed. Management
insisted that the representatives ignore their customers’ feelings
and focus on making sales. The representatives’ more aggressive
sales tactics seemed only to increase their clients’ negative
emotional responses, which kicked off the cycle of suffering again.
It was apparent something had to change.
In an effort to understand the barriers between customers and
sales representatives, a team led by Kate Cannon, a former American
Express staffer and mental-health administrator, used a technique
called emotional resonance to identify employees’ feelings about
their work. Looking at the problem from an emotional point of view
yielded dramatic insights about clients, sales representatives, and
managers alike.
The first step she took was to acknowledge that the clients’
negative emotions were barriers to life insurance sales. Cannon
explained, “People reported all kinds of emotional issues—fear,
suspicion, powerlessness, and distrust—involved in buying life
insurance.” Clients’ negative emotions, in turn, had sparked
negative feelings among some American Express life insurance sales
representatives, including feelings of incompetence, dread,
untruthfulness, shame, and even humiliation. Management’s focus on
sales had created an emotional disconnect between the sales reps’
work and their true personalities. Cannon discovered that sales
representatives who did not acknowledge their clients’ distress
felt dishonest. The emotional gap between their words and their
true feelings only increased their distress.
Cannon also found some good news. Sales representatives who
looked at their job from the customer’s point of view were
flourishing. Their feelings and their words were in harmony.
Clients trusted them. The trust between these more openly emotional
sales representatives and their clients led to greater sales and
job satisfaction. To see if emotional skills training could
increase job satisfaction and sales among other members of the
team, Cannon instituted a course in emotional awareness for a test
group of American Express life insurance sales representatives. The
goal of the course was to help employees recognize and manage their
feelings. The results of the study proved the value of emotional
clarity. Coping skills, as measured on standardized psychological
tests, improved for the representatives who took Cannon’s
course.
The emotional awareness training program had significant impact
on American Express’s bottom line. Over time, as Cannon’s team
expanded their emotion-based program, American Express life
insurance sales rose by tens of millions of dollars. American
Express’s exercise in emotional awareness shows that companies can
profit when feelings are recognized and consciously managed.
Employees whose work aligns with their true emotions make more
believable corporate ambassadors. The positive use of emotion can
benefit a company internally as well. According to a Gallup poll of
over 2 million employees, the majority of workers rated a caring
boss higher than increased salary or benefits. In the words of
career expert and columnist Maureen Moriarty, “Good moods are good
for business.”
Based on information from Schwartz, T. (2008, September 11). How
do you feel? Fast Company. Retrieved
January 28, 2009, from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/35/emotion.html?page=0%2C2;
Kirkwood, G., & Ward, C. (2002, May 5). Ch…Ch…Ch…Changes: How can facility managers move people
across the inevitable hurdles? Paper presented at FMA
Ideation. Abstract retrieved April 22, 2010, from
www.res.com.au/documents/changes.pdf; Moriarty, M. (2007, June 7).
Workplace coach: Don’t underestimate emotional intelligence.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved
July 1, 2008, from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/318345_workcoach04.html.
Discussion Questions
- What are some other jobs that deal with relatively negative or
unfavorable emotions daily?
- In what type of job might American Express’s open emotion
policy not be acceptable?
- What type of personality might be better equipped for dealing
with negative emotions at work?
- What are some ways you deal with negative emotions either at
work or at school? Do your methods differ depending on what type of
situation you are in?