Emotional Intelligence At Workplace

 BY SURESH D  |
 
 JUN 10 2019
By the time Kumar reached office, he was late by 30 minutes, and, Ezaz was waiting
for him. Kumar was heading HR in the organisation, while Ezaz was the head of
Finance.  “One more of my team members has resigned this morning. How am I
going to handle the audit now?  You could not even fill the vacancy created by the
exit of David four months ago.” Ezaz quipped in anger as he entered Kumar’s cabin
which was adjacent to his. “That’s for you to figure out. That’s precisely what you are
being paid for” retorted Kumar, still trying to switch his laptop on.
 
Such a response enraged Ezaz and he yelled, “It is such arrogance of the HR
department which is the root cause of most of the problems here…I am not going to
tolerate this anymore.” This ensued into a bitter argument between Ezaz and Kumar,
including blaming each other’s subordinates, and, it was audible to their team
members sitting outside the cabins. While they reconciled later and took damage
control measures, this incident disturbed the harmony between the two teams.
 
Little did Ezaz know that Kumar had narrowly escaped an accident while driving to
the office.  Kumar’s nerves had not yet settled by the time he reached office. 
Kumar, being hazzled, in spite of knowing fully well regarding an upcoming audit,
could not understand Ezaz’s worries and anger. Handling the audit with one team
member completely gone and another half-gone was an uphill task.
 
If one of them had at least been cognisant of the rising impulses and handled the
discussion without anger, or, had a scheduled and well-prepared discussion some
time later, this could have been avoided.  In some similar cases, the spats though
not verbal, transform into silent ego battles, and, do not get mended for great lengths
of time. Quite often, they lead to ‘office politics.’ If colleagues can be empathetic to
one another, workplaces would become a great deal better and consequentially
more successful. This is just one example depicting the need for a higher state of
emotional intelligence at the workplace. Emotional intelligence, as the name
suggests, is about being intelligent with Emotions.
 
Thoughts about feelings
 
So, what is intelligence and what is emotion? Simply put, Intelligence is the ability to
absorb relevant information from various sources, process it, and, derive a
meaningful output. Emotion is relatively hard to define, and, is explained as a feeling
or a cluster of feelings, and the related psychological and biological states. It relates
to instinctive or intuitive feelings as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.
 
In Quotes “Intelligence is the ability to absorb relevant information from
various sources, process it, and, derive a meaningful output. Emotion is
relatively hard to define, and, is explained as a feeling or a cluster of feelings,
and the related psychological and biological states.”
 
There are two processes our brain hosts - thinking and feeling. While thinking dwells
on intelligence, feelings relate to emotional triggers in the mind, and, are derived
more from instincts. Thinking and feeling are strongly intertwined and the richness of
one depends on the strength of the other. If you can really think (or analyse) about
your feelings and those of the others around you, you would be able to understand
them well and make appropriate choices.
 
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to spot and understand information related to the
emotions of self as well as others, think (process the information), and, act
appropriately for the best possible outcome.
 
Following are some interesting facts regarding thoughts and emotions:
 
1. Emotions precede thoughts.  Our emotional reactions are the first to surface in
response to an event, much faster than our thoughts. It is almost like lightning that
precedes thunder. In many cases, we first develop a feeling of like/ dislike towards
things or individuals, and, then think to justify.
 
2. Thoughts seek to reason whereas emotions stem from instincts or a blend of
instincts and are seldom logical.
 
3. Emotions in raw state are far more overpowering and can push us into action even
before we consciously understand the event and draw a reasoned conclusion.
 
4. Emotions have physiological repercussions whereas thoughts necessarily need
not lead to physiological responses.
 
Life minus emotions = void
 
Imagine a life without emotions. All through our life, we crave for giving and receiving
love, affection, admiration and other such emotions that can culminate into
happiness. As humans, we constantly strive to build and sustain happiness in life.
We are, but emotional beings. Without emotions, our lives would be empty.
Irrespective of the intelligence that one may possess, it becomes irrelevant if the
ability to feel /experience emotions is missing. Developing intelligence in handling
emotions well enriches the fabric of life.
 
Five ingredients for the EI recipe
 
The five building blocks of emotional intelligence are:
 
Self-Awareness: Self-Awareness is knowing what is happening in oneself. It is
about the ability to recognize the feelings within self as they originate, and, put a
name to the feeling. Words are powerful in shaping our thoughts and feelings.
Putting a name helps us develop the right feeling/thought about it. Self-awareness is
the very first step in the path of self-development.
 
Self-Regulation: Self-Regulation is the ability to handle feelings so that they are
appropriate and not becoming a slave of feelings. It is about the ability to not live in a
state of denial.
 
Internal Motivation: Internal Motivation is the ability to cultivate the right mindset
and state of emotion in the journey towards a goal. Being overwhelmed by initial
success or getting bogged down by hurdles can derail the journey itself.
 
Empathy: Empathy is the ability to identify with or understand the perspectives and
motivations of others and to comprehend their emotional state. Individuals, who are
good at empathy quickly spot opportunities to make others feel good, understand
their motivation hotspots, and can use them effectively.
 
Social Skills/Relationship Management: These are skills in managing emotions in
others. People adept with such skills are social stars and are non-manipulative. They
are generally good communicators, interactive, and are good at building and
managing relationships.
 
Emotions @ work
Emotions can energize or de-energize thoughts. For instance, if you believe that
doing a particular task would fetch you recognition and reward. This belief results in
a feeling of motivation and helps in completing the task better and faster. If you
believe (even if it is a wrong notion) that the credit of your achievement would not be
given to you or would be stolen by someone else, it would result in a feeling of
demotivation, and thereby, a lack of interest in performing the task. In both the
cases, the task and ability of the individual is the same. It is just the feeling of
motivation or demotivation which influences the result, irrespective of whether the
feeling originated from the right perception or not. An emotionally intelligent manager
would be able to identify the feelings and the undercurrents involved, and, manage
people and work in an effective manner and can build happier and highly effective
teams.
 
HRM @ Emotional Intelligence – Cultivating EI
 
HR Department would expectedly be the custodian of cultivating EI in organisations,
in partnership with other business leaders. Some of the ways that can be adopted
are:
 
1. Awareness sessions on EI: EI has only gained partial awareness among the
general public. The very awareness of EI and consciousness of the concept would
lead to a certain degree of improvement. It would help if awareness sessions are
conducted as a series of interventions rather than as a onetime event.
 
2. Building self-awareness: Various tools are available online and with EI experts
to measure the EI in each individual. Providing access to such tools is an effective
way to build self-awareness. Among other options available are 360 degree
feedback exercises regarding EI.
 
3. Visual Displays and Literature: They can help EI to constantly exist in the realm
of consciousness of associates, and, thereby result in improvement. Individual
journals may be provided where employees can write their observations regarding
their own EI during each day. This helps individuals study themselves, draw patterns
in their own behaviour, and map out a corrective action plan and its implementation.
 
4. Recognition: Recognition to those employees who are role models of EI can also
be an effective approach. Idolize them so that others emulate them.
 
In Quotes “Cultivating EI would bring calm to associates’ thinking and can
enrich the quality of their thoughts. They can be more objective in thinking
without being influenced by individual biases. The benefits to the both of
them, the individuals as well as the organisation are multiple and obvious.”
 
Cultivating EI would bring calm to associates’ thinking and can enrich the quality of
their thoughts. They can be more objective in thinking without being influenced by
individual biases. The benefits to the both of them, the individuals as well as the
organisation are multiple and obvious.