EI AT WORKPLACE

EI at Workplace

Emotional Intelligence (EI) has become one of the hottest buzzwords after its introduction by Daniel Goleman in 1995. So concept is newer one, but it rests on a firm scientific foundation. EI means handling emotions intelligently. EI is the capacity for understanding and managing one’s own and others emotions. In other words, EI is the ability of an individual to deal successfully with other people, to manage one’s own self, motivate others, understand one’s own feelings and appropriately respond to the everyday environment.

EI consists of some mental components, like:-

          Self Awareness means self understanding.

Self Management means handling self emotion.

Self Motivation means remain toward desired goals/overcome negative emotions.

Empathy means understand and be sensitive to feelings of other.

Social Skills means the ability to read social situations, smooth in interaction and forming networks, able to guide other’s emotions.

There are only about two dozen EI skills that affect all aspects of work. Some of them are: accurate self-assessment, self-confidence, self-control, conscientiousness, adaptability, innovation, commitment, initiative, political awareness, optimism, understanding others, conflict management skills, team capabilities, communication, and the ability to initiate or manage change.

Until fairly recently a person’s IQ (Intelligence Quotient) has always been associated with the amount of success they have in life – the more intelligent you are the better you do in life. However, this very limited view is now being challenged as more and more members of the scientific and social science fields investigate people’s EQ (EI).  'IQ is relatively stable throughout life but much of emotional skill is learned,' says Goleman. 'There’s a huge market for psychologists as executive coaches, helping people in the workplace build their emotional competencies.'

An employee with high emotional intelligence can manage his or her own impulses, communicate with others effectively, manage change well, solve problems, and use humor to build relationship in tense situations. These employees also have empathy, remain optimistic even in the face of adversity, and are gifted at educating and persuading in a sales situation and resolving customer complaints in a customer service role.

This "clarity" in thinking and "composure" in stressful and chaotic situations is what separates top performers from weak performers in the workplace. In many cases EI is responsible for high performance.  

By improving EI one can contribute more in workplace in following way: the ability to anticipate, recognize, and meet customers' needs; an intuitive sense of others' feelings and perspectives in understanding others; ability to sense what others need in order to grow and develop; using effective tactics and techniques for persuasion and desired results; sending clear and convincing messages that are understood by others; negotiating and resolving disagreements with people; nurturing instrumental relationships for business success; creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals.

Top executives, in particular, need high EQ because they represent the organization to the public, they interact with the highest number of people within and outside the organization and they set the tone for employee morale. High officials with empathy are able to understand their employees’ needs and provide them with constructive feedback. Same way, jobs at different levels call for different types of EI.

-AHS Shohel Ahmed

(Published in The Executive Times)