How do people fit into the idea of ’emorational’ decisions?

Any change starts with your people. When decisions need to be made, people’s opinions will differ, and it’s HR’s job to make decisions that take everyone’s view into account.

Zenefits’ Product Marketing Manager, David Watson, shares advice on how the rational and emotional aspects of decision-making can play into people operations.

You’re probably asking yourself, what is “emorational”? Well, this is a made-up word that can be defined as the combination of emotional and rational. Although most of us probably aren’t psychologists, we can still relate to making decisions based on these characteristics. As HR leaders, it’s important to understand how they can play into each other.

Any change starts with your people. Think about a time in your business when a new initiative was brought to light. Some of your employees were likely split about how to approach it. People tend to let one emotion dominate their decision-making abilities, causing them to have different perspectives than others who let the other emotion become dominant.

Managing people’s work life can be a very emotional process. Everyone is human, and things come up, not only in our work lives but in our personal lives as well. When making business decisions, it’s important to understand how that decision will affect your employees. At the same time, you also need to be rational when making decisions. So what will be the best avenue for the company to take to ensure you can support your employees and business in the long run?

There are many scenarios where this can feel like a balancing act for my conversations with experienced HR leaders. My recommendation to you is to solicit input and feedback from your staff. When making decisions, let the staff input be a shortcut to allow you to see how your emorational decision will affect your company as a whole.

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