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Emotional
Intelligence at workplace- A tool for survival and growth
Saswati
Upadhyaya
Emotional
Intelligence emerges not from the musings of rarefied intellect,
but from the workings of the human heart. EQ isn't about sales
tricks or how to work a room. And it's not about putting a good
face on things, or the psychology of control, exploitation, or
manipulation. It is Emotional Intelligence that motivates us to
pursue our unique potential and purpose, it activates our
innermost values and aspirations, transforming them from things we
think about to what we live.
What are emotions?
Emotions have long been considered to be of such depth and power
that in Latin, for example, they were described as moutus anima,
meaning literally "the spirit that moves us". The word
emotion may be simply defined as applying "movement",
either metaphorically or literally; to core feelings. Emotions are
a form of energy. Each emotion is a slightly different form and,
therefore, needs to be understood and processed differently.
Because emotions are energy, they need to be moved. The human
system is a channel for the energy of emotion, much like a river
bed acts as a channel for water. To be compete with any emotion, a
person must (a) notice it; (b) allow him/ herself to feel it; (c)
identify the lesson taught by the emotion; and (d) develop and
follow a new course of action (the result of change created by the
decision to learn the lesson. Contrary to most conventional
thinking, emotions are inherently neither positive nor negative;
rather they serve as the single most powerful source of human
energy, authenticity, and drive that can offer us a wellspring of
intuitive wisdom. In fact, feelings provide us with vital and
potentially profitable information every minute of the day. This
feed back from the heart, and not the head, is what ignites
creative genius, keeps you honest with yourself, shapes trusting
relationships, provides an inner compass for your life and career,
guides you to unexpected possibilities, and may even save you or
your organization from disaster.
Eight Principles of Emotions
1) Emotional needs express themselves one way or another.
2) Anger is an expression of need.
3) Our feelings and needs are not wrong or bad.
4) Emotions are the gateway to vitality and feeling alive.
5) We can address emotional issues and still save face.
6) Immediate reactions to problems often disguise deeper feelings.
7) We must clarify individual needs before problem solving with
others.
8) We need to express positive feelings and communicate negative
ones.
Therefore, it is not enough, just to have feelings. Emotional
Intelligence requires that we learn to acknowledge and value
feelings in ourselves and others and that we appropriately respond
to them, effectively applying the information and energy of
emotions in our daily life and work. Emotional Intelligence is the
ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power and
acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information and
influence.
Emotional dynamics at workplace –A sine qua non to healthy
relationships
Hidden Dynamics is about welcoming emotions into the workplace.
With friends, spouses or lovers, we talk about work a great deal.
We discuss what we like, what we don't like, the people we work
with, the customers we serve, the situations we encounter, and the
company itself - its products, politics, profits, and problems.
Yet on the job, only a trusted few know what we really think. For
most of us our feelings are private.
Welcoming
emotions into the workplace is critical to the success of our
organizations. The changes now affecting the workplace extend far
beyond the particulars of upgrading production and coping with
increased market competition. They involve radical shifts in the
ways we interact socially and interpersonally. These profound
changes cannot be embraced and integrated without addressing our
deepest thoughts and feelings. They require us to open our hearts
and deal with our emotions.
In
work, as in our personal lives, we can no longer succeed without
taking down the walls that separate us. Progress demands levels of
collaboration and teamwork we never dreamed were possible. Issues
such as health care, a global economy, the environment, and
balancing the budget cannot be addressed successfully by any one
group. From small community and nonprofit organizations to large
government agencies, multinational corporations, and entire
nations, we are awakening to the blunt fact that we must work
together in new ways to solve the problems that face us.
Widespread recognition of the need for significant change can be
seen in the number of organizations that are restricting around
teams, implementing quality management, and having their people
take courses on ways to empower people. We are moving, more by
necessity than by choice, from traditional hierarchical structures
to leaner, flatter, more fluid organizations. We do so because we
possess neither the human nor the financial resources to survive
any other way. The time is past when we can live without one
other, pursue independent agendas, permit internal groups to be at
war, and allow politics to get in the way of our real priorities.
Our continued survival depends on our ability to trust each other,
share our resources, and build bridges to other people and
organizations.
Despite great technological advancements, the human changes needed
for success in the workplace continue to elude us. Managers talk
about empowerment, but employees don't believe their words; teams
are formed, but they are unable to make anything happen; managers
learn new skills, but they quickly return to "business as
usual." We are continually reaching for the brass ring, but
are unable to grasp it. Denise, a human resources manager for a
national retail companies recognized for its excellent customer
service and quality products, states it wells: "We have
mastered all the technical aspects of business, but the real
challenges are the human ones. Despite our success, people are
still unable to reach agreement, work collaboratively, and share
resources. We can't get people to trust each other."
To
grab the brass ring we must welcome our thoughts and feelings into
the workplace. We must foster the courage and provide the safety
for people to share their real experience (thoughts, feelings,
reactions and insights). We must create a new sense of community
where employees can confront bosses, where business decisions can
be questioned, where it is safe to say, "I'm unhappy
here," where rocking the boat is expected, where honesty is
the norm, and where deep feelings are shared. Honest opinions and
authentic feelings are untapped resources that will help us and
our organizations to prosper.
The
benefits of addressing and using these feelings are:
There
are no secrets
When
unpleasant emotions are present, we know it. We feel them and
react accordingly, regardless of whether they are spoken about or
held in silently. We have a kind of inner gyroscope that tells us
when things are not right. It's survival instinct. At work, we
know when our star is rising, when peers disapprove of us, when
we're not in sync with what's going on, when layoffs are coming,
which people are likely to get promoted or fired, and when a
prospective change might threaten us. We become speculative,
worried, anxious, and alert during these times. Our emotions are
warning us; that is their function.
The
awareness is not limited to ourselves. Others can pick up our
feelings on their intuitive radar. When we don't like someone or
something, others know it. If we acknowledged this uncanny
ability, we would realize that all the "private
conversations" we have about other people are, on some level,
known to them. Frightening, isn't it? We spend all this time
avoiding difficult issues while we are dealing with them
anyway-only covertly.
Most
of us, however, pretend that we do not have this awareness, and
instead we get upset stomachs, headaches, and heartburn. Even
those of us who acknowledge these subtle feelings often do not
have the confidence, courage or certainty to act on them. Our
"not so nice" feelings are like a Pandora's box. We've
been taught: Don't open the box, don't ever open the box.
Curiously, however, this is the very box we most need to open. And
why not? The box is already open. It is hardly possible to do more
harm.
Conclusion
As
we understand the essence of emotions, we see that our emotions
are like the elements of nature - sometimes raw, violent,
changing, unpredictable; other times pleasant, warm inviting, and
steady. Whether warm or cold, violent or steady our emotions can
be controlled but never completely tamed. And just as too much
contact with raw elements of nature is dangerous for us, neither
is it good for us to completely succumb to our feelings. Similar
to our need for contact with nature, we need to be in touch with
our emotions on a regular basis, but not completely at their
mercy.
As
we begin to deal with emotions, we realize just how much they
affect our business every day. Team effectiveness is strengthened
or weakened by the existence of trust and teamwork. Our ability to
implement change is highly dependent on emotional buy in and
commitment. The relationship between managers and employees
determines whether or not we feel empowered or negated. And our
ability to contribute our best talent is affected by whether we
feel safe from pending layoff and whether others recognize our
skills.
Contributed by :
Saswati Upadhyaya,
PGP-II, XIMB
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