The Tribune

Wikipedia defines ‘Emotional Intelligence’ as the capacity of individuals to recognise their own, and other people’s, emotions, and to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately. It also involves the use of emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour.

Daniel Goleman, a forward thinker on the topic of emotional intelligence, presents five categories on the topic. He indicates that when sourcing individuals who will succeed in your workplace, they must be able to handle these five pillars:

1. Self-awareness: If a person has a healthy sense of self-awareness, he understands his own strengths and weaknesses, as well as how his actions affect others. A person who is self-aware is usually better able to handle and learn from constructive criticism than one who is not.

2. Self-regulation: A person with a high emotional intelligence score can maturely reveal her emotions and exercise restraint when needed. Instead of squelching her feelings, she expresses them with restraint and control.

3. Motivation: Emotionally intelligent people are self-motivated. They are not motivated simply by money or a title. They are usually resilient and optimistic when they encounter disappointment, and driven by an inner ambition.

4. Empathy: A person who has empathy has compassion, and an understanding of human nature that allows him to connect with other people on an emotional level. The ability to empathise allows a person to provide great service and respond genuinely to others’ concerns.

5. People skills: People who are emotionally intelligent are able to build rapport and trust quickly with others on their teams. They avoid power struggles and backstabbing. They usually enjoy other people and have the respect of others around them.

Employees, managers and senior executives must all have a good working knowledge of emotional intelligence if staff are to benefit from the company.

Emotional intelligence involves a close look at leadership, teamwork, management skills and partnership when it comes to improving the success of a company. Businesses who have staff with emotional intelligence skills feature workers who are:

• Motivated, productive, efficient and aligned with the business.

• Effective, confident, likable, happy and rewarded.

The development of Emotional intelligence in the workplace involves leaders beginning to steer employees towards each of these important areas of focus.

1. The ability to reduce negative emotions

2. The ability to stay cool and manage stress

3. The ability to be assertive and express difficult emotions when necessary

4. The ability to stay proactive, not reactive, in the face of a difficult person

5. The ability to bounce back from adversity

6. The ability to express intimate emotions in close, personal relationships

• NB: Ian R. Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@coralwave.com.