Strategies To Create Emotionally Intelligent Workplaces

Strategies to create Emotionally Intelligent workplaces "We are being judged by a new yardstick: not just how smart we are, or by our training and expertise, but also by how well we handle ourselves and each other", says Daniel Goleman

The smart brigadier An Italian terrorist group, the Red Brigade abducted Jamesgeneral Dozier, a U.S. Army

brigadier general in 1981. Intimidated by the crazed excitement of his captors, he realized that if he couldn't think of a strategy to get away from them, his life would be in peril. He remembered he had learnt something about emotions in an Executive Development Programme at the Centre for Creative Leadership in North Carolina- "Emotions are contagious, and a single person can influence the emotional tone of a group

The smart brigadier general (contd.) It was time for Dozier to put this learning into action. He pulled up his socks, mustered courage and got his emotions under control. Dozier managed to tone down his anxiety and expressed his calmness to his captors convincingly. The result was quite obvious. The captors became more rational and released Dozier two months later. How did Dozier manage to influence his captors and rescue himself from being killed? Not as simple as it sounds- Dozier exercised Emotional Intelligence!

What is Emotional Intelligence (EI)? "The ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in the self and others".

What is Emotional Intelligence (EI)? "The capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and our relationships" .

An EI workplace

An EI workplace is characterized by all employees conscientious of their behavior and the way they relate with others. Such employees have the knack of recognizing, perceiving and controlling their emotions because they are aware of their impact on others.

Creating an EI workplace Emotional Quotient (EQ), a measure of EI, can be raised through three foolproof strategies. Strategy 1: Perception  Strategy 2: Proficiency  Strategy 3: Culture 

Strategy 1: Perception Most employees consider the display of emotion at the workplace inappropriate. Some also feel that the most suitable way of managing emotions is to mask them. It is often assumed that emotions could damage the work environment. However, a deeper research into the concept of EI disproves these assumptions. Emotions are innate responses and provide helpful information regarding employees. Employees in turn, have to perceive that EI can make a great difference to organizations and their work environment. According to Dr. Michael Rock, EQ assessment leader, EQ has many organizational applications. Most organizations seem to face EQ issues during restructuring interventions and change initiatives. EQ has also a direct relationship to an employee's performance. Hence, denying emotions or improper expression of emotions can cause grave personal and organizational problems.

Strategy 2: Proficiency Chuck Wolfe, an EQ expert, believes that behavior is the reflection of emotion. EI is intelligent integration of emotions with intellectual, spiritual and physiological capacities. Emotional competence gives the ability to    

Handle emotional situations leading to resentment Handle emotions better, to be able to respond appropriately Respect emotions and identifying triggers Being committed to more trusting relationships Performance of an employee is EI-competency based and comprises a distinct set of abilities that incorporate affective and cognitive skills. For example, 'a warm and outgoing nature' is a personality trait and not an EI competence but it is a reflection of competencies, which involve the ability to relate positively to others. Emotional competencies are deeply held behaviors not just skills. They are deeply rooted in personal beliefs and assumptions and can be learnt and developed over time.

Strategy 3: Culture The third strategy to create an EI workplace is to create an emotionally intelligent culture. An EI culture encourages employees to display and utilize their emotions in a constructive way. According to Anne Dranitsaris, "Emotional Intelligence has to be embedded in organizational systems to be effective". An Emotionally Intelligent culture displays emotions as a vital ingredient in transforming the workplace into a more committed one.

EQ or IQ? When comparing EI and IQ, studies have always been equally biased in favor of both. According to Goleman, when people enter new professions, IQ is a better predictor. This is because it substitutes the cognitive complexity a person can process. However, EQ emerged as a stronger performance predictor to identify outstanding performers within a given profession.

EQ or IQ? Companies use competency based competitive and strategic actions to identify key potential, so that they can hire and promote employees who possess them or develop them.

As Cary Cherniss, professor of Applied Psychology, Rutgers University, avers, "Companies really need to think about going beyond training for emotional intelligence. They need to use emotional intelligence in

Higher positions, higher EI EI guides decisions on where to focus leadership development efforts in most large organizations worldwide. As Goleman says, emotional competencies are twice as important and prevalent for all kinds of jobs. Generally, higher positions in an organization require more EI. Surely, for individuals in leadership position, 85 percent of their competencies lay in the EI domain!

The wise truth Technical and cognitive competencies are threshold skills that help an individual clear the entry hurdles in organizations. These abilities, hence, lose their might as distinguishing competencies. Therefore, the best way to identify an employee's potential is determined by his Emotional Intelligence competency!