The good kind of contagious

We spend a lot of energy worrying about the bad stuff spreading through our workplaces. Me included. The moaners, the office super-spreader, the gossip, the one bad Monday that drags a whole team under.

But emotional contagion runs both ways, and the good direction is the one we rarely talk about.

In 2002, Sigal Barsade ran a now-classic study at Yale University. She placed a trained actor into groups making a management decision and had them radiate good cheer. The mood quickly spread. 

The groups that caught it cooperated more, argued less and rated their own performance higher. Nobody could tell you why, they just worked better together.

This isn't only an office phenomenon. Peter Totterdell followed two professional cricket teams through a match, asking players to log their mood three times a day.

The happier a player's teammates were, the better that player felt and the better they believed they'd played - regardless of how the match was actually going. Good mood, it turns out, is a team sport.

It matters because most leaders treat the working atmosphere like they would the weather. Something that happens to them, rather than something they set. As I’ve written about many times, you are the catalyst for the culture, you get what you choose to build. The energy you carry into a room is the energy people hand back to you.

Which is either a lovely thought or a mildly terrifying one, depending on the kind of day you're having.

None of this is an argument for forced positivity. I've little time for the manager who insists everyone smiles while the building is on fire. But optimistic realism - naming the problem and still believing it can be solved - spreads just as readily as cheerfulness, and lasts a good deal longer. 

Barsade found the effect held whether the mood was high-energy or calm. It's the warmth that travels, therefore, not the height of enjoyment.

So the more useful question isn't 'how do I stop the negativity?' It's simpler than that. It’s ‘what am I passing on?’ The dressing room, the site office, the group chat and the Monday stand-up all run on the same rule. People catch what you bring in.

So bring in something worth catching.