Argh!!
It happened again. But this time I was able to look at my feelings and recognise my unmet needs before my anger getting out of hand.
There was a competition at work and the winners were announced today. None of my entries were mentioned which I thought a little strange because they were excellent entries. I enquired and found out the admin manager hadn’t submitted my entries to the committee.
I was furious.
I began by grumping about it to my friends in the office. Then I realised that I was doing exactly what I despise in offices – bitching. So I asked myself why I was so angry. I realised NVCly:
“I am annoyed because I need belonging in the office I work in. I also need acknowledgement and recognition for my efforts for the company.”
After I was aware of this I felt calmer. I thought about what request I wanted (using NVC’s 4 steps of ‘Observation -> Feeling -> Need -> Request’) and realised I didn’t want anything except acknowledgement. So I wrote an email to my colleague stating these feelings and was relieved to receive a quick reply that satisfied my needs, with a (bonus!) explanation.
My anger subsided I was able to be productive for the remainder of the day.
The NVC method is empowering – especially when helping oneself. 
Tags: anger, communication, nonviolent, nvc, workplace
