EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: THE MANAGEMENT TOOL
Emotional Intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to set a goal in life,
work towards achieving it, negotiate it and feel empathetic towards a fellow
being. It guarantees a well-balanced personality. While intelligence is
basically determined at birth, EI is essentially learned. Pater Salovey, a
Yale psychologist and John Mayer of the University of New Hampshire
coined the term in 1990. The new concept explains why the smartest people
are not always wealthy. Why some people are liked almost instantly upon
introduction while others are distrusted. The term became popular in 1995
with a best selling book Emotional Intelligence; why it can more than IQ, by
Daniel Goleman, doctorate in psychology from Harvard University and
Science Writer with New York Times. He followed it up with another title
Emotional Intelligence in the workplace.
According to Goleman, an individual’s success at work is 80 per cent
dependent on EI and only 20 per cent dependent on the more commonly
known intelligence quotient while EI is a measure of one’s emotional
quotient. It describes the qualities in a person e.g. self-awareness, self-
motivation, impulse control and empathy. It means being smart about our
emotions. It is different from IQ in that it can teach the children EI skills to
give them a better chance to use their genetically given intellectual
potential i.e. IQ. Those who are insensitive to emotions in others will not
see the need to care for others. While intelligence is basically determined
at birth, EI is essentially learned. Emotional skills such as empathy can be
taught and developed as children grow and live out their lives. Emotions,
therefore, may be the true measure of human intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence can change unlike IQ, which stabilizes when a
person is around 18 years of age. A person with a low EI score on empathy
today can have a higher empathy score in the future - if that person
recognizes his limitations, changes his attitude, adopts a learning strategy
and practices key listening and empathy skills. EI is the sine qua non of
leadership. An analysis has shown that it plays an increasingly important
role at the highest levels in a corporate structure, where differences in
technical skills are of negligible importance. In other words, the higher the
rank of a person considered to be a star performer, the more EI capabilities
showed up as the reason for his effectiveness.
Characteristics
Paeter Salovey offers a framework for EI through the five personal
intelligence characteristics:
1. Self-awareness or knowing one’s own emotions.
2. The ability to manage one’s emotions and impulses.
3. Self-motivation skills.
4. Empathy or the ability to sense how others are feeling.
5. Social skills or the ability to handle the emotions of other people.
Self-awareness is the cornerstone of emotional intelligence. It reflects
the ability of a person to be able to know the reasons for his emotional
response, thus improving his chances of handling it in an appropriate
manner.
People incapable of soothing themselves have to constantly fight
against feelings of distress, while those, who excel in it, can bounce back
more quickly from like setbacks. This is not an easy skill as emotions often
appear in disguise as with a parent yelling at a child for running onto the
road, anger born out of anxiety. Yet, for all its complexity, self-awareness is
the most crucial skill, says Goleman, as it allows us to exercise self-control.
It also allows people to develop coping mechanisms during periods of
intense emotional upsurge. For instance, going out for a brisk jog when one
is feeling tense may be to trigger a response in the body-mind that is
incompatible with the earlier feelings. Self-awareness can also be identified
during performance reviews. Persons with this quality know about their
limitations and strengths and they often demonstrate a thirst for
constructive criticism. However, people with a low degree of self-awareness
interpret the message that they need to improve as a threat or a sign of
failure. Self-aware people have more degree of self-confidence and have a
firm grasp of their capabilities. They know when to ask for help. The risks
they take on the job are calculated. They will never ask for a challenge that
they know they cannot handle.
Managing emotions or self-regulation is that component of EI which
frees us from being prisoners of our own feelings. People engaged in such a
conversation feel emotional impulses just as every one else does but they
find ways to control them and even to channel them in useful ways. Self-
regulation is very important for leadership qualities. People, who are in
control of their feelings and impulses, are reasonable and are able to create
an environment of trust and fairness. In such an environment, politics and
infighting are sharply reduced and productivity is high.
Motivating one-self or marshalling emotions is essential for self-
motivation and creativity. A singularly important factor for all effective
leaders is motivation. Plenty of people are motivated by external factors
e.g. big compensation packages or the status that comes from the position
one enjoys in an organization. On the other hand, those with leadership
potential are motivated by a deeply extended desire to achieve for the sake
of achievement. People with high motivation remain optimistic even under
unfavourable circumstances. In all such cases, it is said that self-regulation
combines with achievement motivation to overcome the frustration and
depression that come after a setback or a failure.
Empathy is another important factor, which recognizes emotions in
others. People, who are empathic, are more attuned to the subtle social
signals that indicate what others want. Empathy is defined as thought-fully
considering others’ feelings along with related factors in the process of
making intelligent decisions. It is particularly important today as a
component of leadership for various reasons. The reasons include
increasing use of teams, the rapid pace of globalization and the ever-
growing need to retain talent. Teamwork is possible only in the
environment of mutual understanding and trust for which empathy is the
basic ingredient. In globalization, cross-cultural dialogue can easily lead to
misunderstandings and in such cases, empathy is an antidote. People, who
have empathy, have a deep understanding of the importance of cultural and
ethnic differences. Retention of talent has become important, particularly in
today’s information economy. Leaders have always needed empathy to
develop and keep good people.
Social skill is another important component of emotional intelligence.
The art of relationships is basically a skill in managing emotions in others.
It involves social competence and specific skills, which help in this direction.
People, who excel in these skills, do well in anything that depends on
interaction with others. Socially skilled people tend to have a wide circle of
acquaintances and they have a knack for finding common ground with
people of all kinds. Such people have a network in place when the time for
action comes.
In the business sector, the training provided by most of the
organizations does not help employees develop their EI skills. Goleman
says, “The classroom is fine for reading or math or intellectual things. It
does not work for EI because these skills are about how you empathize and
manage your own feeling, how well you collaborate, lead a team. These
things do not improve in a seminar. You are talking about behaviour
change”.
Business Applications
When managers understand the EI skills of their teams, they become
more aware of the team’s strengths and weaknesses and can make better
decisions about how work is done. A focus on EI skills can shed a new light
on how employees are developed. For example, the ability to see life as
somebody else sees it is the fundamental management skill.
A lot of people, particularly business organizations, are concerned
about the ability of the people to know, manage and monitor their emotions.
Scientists say that intelligence is genetically driven. 14 percent of one’s IQ
is determined by the mixing procedure of one’s parents’ genes and 34
percent directly from the parents. But, for success in life, researchers
believe IQ contributes just 20 percent. The rest comes from one’s ability to
recognize one’s own emotions, empathize with peers and deal with crisis, in
other words, one’s EI.
In conclusion, we can say that “IQ gets you hired but it is EI that gets
you promoted”. Those organizations, that grow their people with
outstanding EI, will be successful in future. The future will belong to those
who have excellent relationship skills. Human capital will then truly
leverage performance through people, pride and profits.
Source: Daljit Singh Bedi’s article in Employment News, 25 September-1 October 1999
