Every Tuesday afternoon, the Bama crews gather with Paul, our Support and Wellbeing Manager and our Mentor Philemon to participate in a workshop about various aspects of health and wellbeing.
This week’s session was about how emotions can be contagious.
We discussed how we subconciously pick up on the positive and negative emotions of people around us, and this can dramatically impact our mood, work performance and relationships.
Both positive and negative emotions can be contagious, but negative emotions are more influential.
We reflected on how we might bring negative emotions to work, or bring a bad mood home with us at the end of the day.
Paul led us in a game called ‘Contagion’, where one person left the room, and, on returning, was tasked with identifying which crew member was carrying the ‘virus’.
Everyone walked in a circle shaking hands, and when the person infected with the virus shook a hand, they transferred the virus to that person.
We then watched a TED Talk about how our contagious emotions affect a work environment, and some staff shared personal experiences.
All our staff are committed to working in a positive and supportive environment, and it helps all of us to have an awareness of how ourselves and others are feeling.