A note on emotions and consultancy

Although most consultants appreciate the role emotions play in change proje cts, many have little understanding regarding emotions and how they influen ce behavior. By providing a basic framework of emotions, and explicating ho w emotions affect cognitive processes and behavior, argues that emotions an d change projects are interlinked. Because the client's need for help is ty pically triggered by negative circumstances, clients often experience unset tling negative affective reactions they wish to alleviate. Although consult ants are ostensible hired to provide expertise and assistance on matters of content, we argue that client's manifest requests for assistance are also almost always implicit calls for emotional help. The emotional help that co nsultants may provide consists of effectively managing the client's emotion al needs in two arenas: the situation in which the client finds him or hers elf, and the client-consultant relationship.