Emotional Intelligence

Our perennial unassertiveness in the face of change is often compounded by the lack of emotional intelligence in our ability to detect and perceive emotions in others and ourselves. To emphasize, Goleman (1995) defined emotional intelligence as our ability to discern our own intuitions and those of others, for self-motivation, and in managing these emotions within our relationships. Furthermore, he added that emotional competence mattered twice as much as cognitive ability.

Emotional Intelligence can be simply described as ‘putting oneself in the shoes of the other’, but it is more than that. It is about behaving in a way that incorporates self-awareness, self-management, and social awareness and assists with relationship management. These capabilities can help individuals to be more successful, and importantly, these skills can be learned and therefore understood. When these skills are not learned, low emotional intelligence can evoke qualities such as fear, anxiety, defensiveness and instability. For leaders with low emotional intelligence, the results can be self-destructive and harm the culture and vision of an organisation.

In essence, individuals with higher emotional intelligence can exert a greater sense of control over themselves and their ego. In an organization, leaders with high emotional intelligence display this control in their actions and composure in difficult and complex situations. Hence these leaders have a unique ability to turn around seemingly insurmountable situations. Leaders who use emotional intelligence also evoke the perception in others that they are good role models to follow. Therefore, the outcomes they achieve with their employees develop a stronger team spirit and a sense of affiliation to the organisation and ultimately result in higher productivity.

As a result, a higher emotional intelligence also minimizes the risk of unnecessary burnout, illness, bullying, venting, job turnover and emotional waste. Furthermore, the positive psychological benefits of emotional intelligence in a person will foster strengths and optimism and enhance virtuous emotions by bringing a more constructive approach to conflict management, thus enhancing transformational leadership into complexity leadership, which will result in outstanding performances through empathy and certainly leading by example.

In times of uncertainty, organizations need new leadership strategies to respond to complexity and help others to develop resilience. Simultaneously, enhanced emotional intelligence can trigger higher hopes in the followers and assistants to climb the management ladder and end the traditional (or transactional) hierarchical hegemony. As stated by Armory Lovins, “We’ve got 21st-century technology and speed colliding head-on with 20th and 19th-century institutions, rules and cultures.” Hence, the time for change is now. Fortunately, emotional intelligence training can nurture a complex leader by creating an accountable, more engaged and happy workforce. In essence, by encouraging and promoting leadership and employees to behave with emotional intelligence, a new workplace can emerge which can bolster flexibility, teamwork and a strong service orientation.

Of significance in the current globalized workforce, emotional intelligence can also enhance diversity management. A leader with the capability to be effective across the cultural spectrum is a linchpin for a positive workplace culture. As evaluated by Samson et al. (2018), 28% of the Australian workforce are foreign-born workers; thus, managing diversity efficiently in the workplace could be a differentiator between competitors. Furthermore, to efficiently service a soaring diverse customer portfolio and to stimulate innovation, organizations need to value diversity (Fortune, 2005).

Thus, diversity creates a broader range of potential human talents for the benefit of the organization operating in a highly competitive global marketplace. Let’s take the example of ABC Motors Co. Ltd, a major car dealership based in Mauritius that employs salesmen from different ethnic groups to sell to the very diverse population of Mauritius, which consists of people from different ethnical backgrounds. Thus, a customer from any particular ethnic group will more likely be attended to by a salesperson from the same ethnicity. Such marketing strategy, powered by emotional intelligence, has shown that sales are more likely to be concluded, as communication, cultural traits, and preferences are shared between both customers and staff. As a result, this successful group has remained the number 1 car dealership for the last 15 years due to its efficiency in managing diversity. Therefore, social and cultural awareness of emotional intelligence is of paramount importance to sales and marketing.

In contrast, many organizations and their managers are still unprepared when it comes to handling diversity, especially when working with people from other parts of the world. This lack of preparation can result in them being seen as ethnocentric and also mean that employees have feelings of animosity and anger, as well as creating high turnover and poor teamwork. Consequently, in health care, this could result in patient erosion. Additionally, in the mining industry, where compliance must be ubiquitous, praising diversity means guaranteeing that all employees are given equal opportunities at the workplace, irrespective of their origins, to ultimately deliver safety.

Having dealt with various global organizations, it is apparent that the service given to customers and the ability to manage diversity can be assisted by developing greater emotional intelligence. However, the good news is that emotional intelligence can be learned and acquired through experience, which means that it is not genetically inherited. Moreover, in relation to the retail industry, which can have a huge impact on your Jewish customers, your emotional intelligence will trigger a thinking process through your cultural awareness that you should not be eating Pork when you are entertaining them. This paucity of emotional intelligence could lead to a sudden stalemate situation. Another example is when dealing with the Chinese in the hospitality industry, a higher dose of emotional intelligence is required as they are quite ethnocentric. Therefore, some points could help you break the ice:

• Become familiar with their eating habits.
• You should not over-question their privacy or age.
• Learning the meaning of the Chinese zodiac could impress them.
• Overperform and take them by surprise.
• Speaking and understanding some Chinese words could open many doors for you.

Whilst it is true that cognitive intelligence is important to run a successful business, it is equally, if not more important, to ensure employees develop emotional intelligence. With enhanced emotional intelligence, personal experience has shown that employees are self-motivated and deliver superior performance. These employees also tend to remain faithful and work in a manner that looks after the organization’s interests. Finally, differentiating both employees and the organisation from the competition is critical, and this can be assisted through the power of emotional intelligence.

Acknowledgements.

I would like to thank Dr. Marcus Cattani for his guidance and the tremendous support of Associate Professor Janice Redmond (Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Perth, W. Australia).