The Importance of Having an Emotionally Intelligent Workforce

Emotional Intelligence. This term keeps popping upThe ability to manage emotions was not present, and
everywhere at the moment, it was even mentionedthe skills needed to cope with the pressures of
on the Ryan Tubridy breakfast show this morning ineveryday life and work (as defined by Dr. Bar-on)
relation to Big Brother! What is so important aboutwere not developed. His colleagues suffered due to
Emotional Intelligence or E.I., and what relevance hasthe lack of emotional intelligence present in this
it to you as a person, in your life, work and in yourindividual. Emotional intelligence can also be lacking in
training and development?teams and companies in general. The good news is,
What determines Success?that when areas of weakness are identified, in the
Alfred Binet carried out the first cognitive intelligenceindividual, team or company, they can be worked
test in France in 1905. This later became known asupon and improved.
the Stanford-Binet test, after it was standardised atThere are many people associated with the growing
Stanford University for the American population. Sinceawareness of E.I., among them Peter Salovey and
that time, many have argued that this test onlyJohn Meyer, who in 1990 defined E.I. as 'the ability to
measured one of our intelligences (others includemonitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions,
emotional, spatial, musical, and artistic). However, itto discriminate among them and to use this
has taken over 50 years for Emotional Intelligence toinformation to guide one's thinking and actions.' This
be taken seriously. Emotional Intelligence is how wedefinition is very relevant to behaviour within the
relate to ourselves, others and our environment inwork environment and, if a workforce could behave
general. It is defined by Dr. Reuven Bar-on, as 'anin this manner, this would create an emotionally
array of non-cognitive capabilities, competencies, andintelligent environment in which the unpredictable
skills that influence one's ability to succeed in copingbehaviour mentioned above would not occur, or could
with environmental demands and pressures; and it isbe dealt with effectively if it did occur.
a factor in determining one's ability to succeed in life.'The fact is that no amount of training and
We all want to be successful in our lives and, untildevelopment, education or team building will have
now, success equalled straight As. The averagetrue impact, if the E.I. of the individual or group is
student often looked at the high achievers at schoolunder-developed. The introduction and application of
as being more successful than they were. Yet,E.I. to corporate environments can reinforce the
evidence does not prove this to be the case. Studiessuccess of the workforce in general, whatever the
have been carried out following children from primaryactivity or size of a company. E.I. is necessary at all
school, through second and on into third levellevels and, if senior levels embrace and apply E.I. in
education. They then returned at various stages totheir daily dealings with all peers and employees, this
these same individuals to check how they werewill filter down through a company.
faring in the race called life, taking in all aspectsThe BarOn EQ-I®
including work, home and family. What they foundIn the 1980's, psychologist Reuven Bar-on, was
was that academic success does not always equalresearching ways to measure emotional intelligence
'being a success'. The average student was often theand developed the term Emotional Quotient or EQ.,
most successful, when all aspects of their life werewhich in turn lead to the EQ-I® or
taken into consideration, often having the better jobemotional-quotient inventory®. The BarOn
and happier home life. Clearly, Cognitive Intelligence orEQ-I® psychometric assessment is the most
IQ is not the only factor in determining success,validated measure of E.I. available. It measures E.I.
there is another intelligence at play, and that isbased on five scales that are then further divided
Emotional Intelligence.into fifteen subscales. The results of the inventory
Unpredictable behaviourare a good indicator of how effectively we will
Have you ever worked in an environment in whichperform, as individuals and as teams. The EQ-I®
the atmosphere was tense, due to the unpredictablescales are:o Intrapersonal - measures our ability to
behaviour of one member? Do you remember (orknow and manage our own emotions.o Interpersonal
are you experiencing) the stress that such an- measures our ability to relate to and get along with
atmosphere causes? Have you ever noticed theothers.o Adaptability - measures how flexible we are
domino effect this has on everyone in the& our ability to solve problems.o Stress
workplace? How can you function properly in anManagement - measures how well we tolerate stress
environment like this if you are waiting for a suddenand control our impulses.o General Mood - measures
outburst of uncontrolled anger, verbal abuse, blameour happiness and optimism
or criticism, sudden highs or lows in mood? This is notThe areas that are measured in the BarOn EQ-I®
a healthy way to work, and it is also not aare as applicable to a team as they are to an
productive way to work. It is particularly stressful ifindividual. For a team to work effectively, and
that person is a supervisor or manager.maximise its' performance, it needs to be aware of
People function better, and are much more effectiveits' E.I.; 'the result will be greater collaboration,
and productive if they are in a happy and relaxedcreativity, and productivity' (Vanessa Urch Druskat
environment. They will want to go to work and will& Steven B. Wolff). A team's E.I. is not
work more effectively; they will also be willing to putmeasured by the EI of individual members but is the
in that extra effort. So how do you improvemeasure of the E.I. of the whole group as it is a
behaviour, work atmosphere, and all the connectedsynergistic relationship.
areas? The answer is the use of EmotionalEmotional Intelligence can be introduced into a
Intelligence.company in various ways. It begins from the moment
The Use of Emotional Intelligencea new employee enters a company. It deals with
Daniel Goleman in his bestselling book, Emotionalhow workers relate to each other, how managers
Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ (1995),manage, how responsive the organisation is to the
defines E.I. as 'the capacity for recognising our ownneeds of its people, and many other areas.
feelings and those of others, for motivatingE.I. based Training and Development can concentrate
ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselveson the skills that are relevant, including Interpersonal
and in our relationships.' The unpredictable member ofRelationships, Stress Tolerance, Problem Solving and
the workforce described above did not have thisLeadership Skills.
capacity, hence his colleagues suffered as a result.