The workplace is one of the most vulnerable when it comes to community settings. It is the most diverse setting where people of different age, color, and job definitions work together. Like they say the world is a village well the workplace is more like a family unit. A unit that requires good interpersonal relations among the different components to kick in motion (Aktharsha & Priya, 2012). Like a real family setting, the workplace has a social set-up that without good interpersonal skills to maintain a good relationship among the workers and managers, a toxic environment can be the result. This leads us to what we call emotional intelligence; the capacity to identify our own feelings and those of others so as to motivate ourselves and expertly manage the emotions within us and our relationships. This is according to Daniel Goleman (Rosa da Silva & Reis, 2011) who attributes that emotional intelligence and good interpersonal communication skills work hand in hand in creating an effective working atmosphere. This paper is going to discuss the effectiveness of emotional intelligence among employees and managers, how it can be used in conflict management and enhancing leadership skills.
As seen, emotional intelligence is more the ability of finding oneself and in so doing, enhancing your relations with others, more importantly by being able to tell their feelings and how to react to them. This ability, it should be noted that it is different from academic intelligence hence having nothing to do with academic credentials but rather learned ability that gives one the knowhow of relating with each other’s ability (Petrovici & Dobrescu, 2014). This means that nearly everyone can have this ability but then possession does not guarantee that one will know what to do especially when overwhelmed with work related stress or any other related hindrance. It is important that one knows learns how to overcome pressure in situations that demand this cue to improve relations around the workplace.
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In work places, socio-emotional intelligence is important in that it helps deal with some of the work-related emotions, manage the social complexities of the workplace, motivate and lead others and also excel in one’s career. Some jobs demand a lot and this can be strenuous to both the mental and physical health of workers and it safe to say that emotional intelligence can help reduce this effect (Petrovici & Dobrescu, 2014). It helps one in understanding and managing their emotions and in the process creating strong relations with colleagues for lack thereof can lead to isolation and loneliness. This means that emotional intelligence helps in how one expresses their feelings and understands those of other co-workers hence creating a good platform for effective communication.
Emotional intelligence has been through various models but Daniel Goleman’s model focuses on emotional intelligence as an extensive array of competences and skills that determine leadership performance (Rosa da Silva & Reis, 2011). He says that communication skills are cue to good emotional intelligence where one needs to be able to listen to others and at the same time be able to convey their own thoughts and more importantly, feelings (Moss, 2011). Workers, just like any other human being, have emotional shortcomings that need smart intelligence to be able to address them. He attributes good communicators to skills such as good listening where they are able to listen to those around them making sure that they seek full and free sharing of information, preparedness to hear about problems, dealing with difficult issues with immediate effect and acting upon emotional cues communication that is appropriate. To enhance this point of view, Daniel came up with 5 components of emotional intelligence on which he claims that if identified and practiced well, they show best the characteristics of emotional maturity among workers. He lists self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy and compassion and social people skills. These he says are the key to good interpersonal relations at the workplace (Moss, 2011).
It is important that one is self-aware of themselves at the workplace as a first step towards gaining sufficient emotional intelligence in order to improve social relations at work. This means that one has to realize and understand their own moods and their effect on colleagues. To effectively navigate this state, one has to be able to identify and assess their emotional state. To show emotional maturity at this stage, one has to show a sense of humor where they can laugh at themselves, they should also be aware of the impression they make on others in that they can read their colleagues’ reactions on how they are perceived. This stage should also be able to showcase ones confidence in dealing with their co-workers feelings.
Science of attachment shows that emotional experience in the present is normally a reflection of past emotional experience. Those who relate with both good and bad emotional intelligence experiences can at least trace their attitude to a learned experience in the past and this can either make or break their interpersonal relationship with co-workers. Self-awareness means that one should be able to experience individual emotions and feelings such as anger, sadness, fear and many others that can be identified through intelligent facial expressions (Petrovici & Dobrescu, 2014). One should also be able to experience strong feelings that are capable of catching the attention of others. In so doing, it is easy to pay attention to one’s emotions and influence your decision making in the right way. If not handled carefully, some experiences may make your emotions to be turned down or off completely. These emotions are normally induced by work-related stress and being able to manage this is intelligent enough to see that one is able to identify and respond to their own feelings. A somewhat important skill in seeing that there is good relations with co-workers ( Aktharsha & Priya, 2012).
Being aware of your emotions is one thing, but it is another to engage your emotional intelligence and be able to use these emotions in making good decisions about one’s behavior. This would refer to what we call self-management. Work related stress can make one lose control of their emotions and hence lose the ability to act appropriately as required. Imagine a situation where a worker is being harassed by a certain manager at their place of work and in the process, this individual is filled with stress that takes them out of their comfort zone. Such an individual while overwhelmed by the situation, might lose control of themselves. Provide such an individual with the ability to manage stress and they will be able to stay emotionally present where they learn how to handle uncomfortable information with discipline without letting it prevail their self-control. One will be able to manage emotions in a relational manner that allows them to take initiatives and adapt to changing circumstances ( Krishnakumar, Hopkins, & Robinson, 2016).
Another component of emotional intelligence at the workplace that is important among co-workers but still on a personal level is personal motivation. Emotionally intelligent workers are self-motivated. This is marked by an interest in learning and self-improvement. Although sometimes it can be related to pursuit of wealth and status. Here, one shows emotional maturity by taking initiative and committing to completion of tasks where they play their part of the whole team to see that everyone benefits. Sometimes a worker can be faced with a demotion and as much as this is belittling both among the employees and other managers, one is supposed to be able to persevere through such times. Without the emotional intelligence to deal with such a situation, it is hard to deal with the ridicule and mockery that comes with it hence resulting to conflicts that could well be avoided (Rosa da Silva & Reis, 2011).
On a broader perspective, one needs to put themselves in another person’s shoes to understand how they feel or respond to various situations. A worker with empathy has the compassion and understanding of what human nature commands and this allows him to connect with other people on an emotional level. If a colleague has been given a task and they seem to have difficulty addressing it, a fellow worker who enough emotional intelligence can step up to help if they have knowledge in the task. This ability to relate with others improve our ability in understanding what motivates and upsets them.
To further promote teamwork at the workplace, one has to be able to navigate the issue of people skills. Most times, misunderstandings and lack of effective social skills are usually the source of problems between workers. Lack of effective communication often leads to bitterness, confusion and frustration among workers (Rosa da Silva & Reis, 2011). With emotional intelligence, employees would be able to build massive trust levels among them and their teams. It would further help in toning down on power struggles and backstabbing among employees and even their managers. Emotional intelligence makes workers develop respect towards those around them in knowing their roles within an organization and how they benefit its ultimate goals.
This brings us to conflict resolution and leadership qualities that can be influenced by emotional intelligence to the betterment of the working environment. Irrespective of how corporate cultured an organization is, it is always inevitable that emotional situations needing a manager to mitigate stress within the ranks will always arise at some point. Job related stress, personal conflicts and to some extend outside burdens, always require to be dealt with at the workplace. How effective a good leader deals with this situations depends greatly on their emotional intelligence. Now many managers would often make two grave mistakes when confronted with such situations; they would in most cases try to downplay an emotional conflict which indirectly makes them players in the emotional melee itself. Another is where a manager ignores the emotions with the hope that they will solve themselves (Kafetsios, Nezlek & Vassiou, 2011). Doing either of the two consequently raises the emotional stakes and at the same time directing negative emotions towards the manager. Gives room for resentment between the parties involved to continue growing which in-turn makes the situation worse. With this in mind, a good leader would better address emotional conflicts earlier than waiting for the situation to deteriorate. To effectively do this, an emotionally intelligent leader can use the following methods to curb the problem.
First, the manager should acknowledge the problem at hand (Akila & Thangavel, 2011). Workers have feelings and more than anything, they would love these feelings to be acknowledged. For instance a manager can tell a worker something close to “it is of my knowledge that you are not happy with the whole situation right now.” This may sound simple and obvious but a statement of this magnitude would go to lengths in lowering the emotional stakes of the situation at hand. As much as acknowledgement doesn’t show concession, it shows empathy with acts as a catalyst towards the solution.
After acknowledging the emotion, a leader with emotional wisdom should be able to positively substitute it with a comment in this line; “I know one main reason for this is because you are a hardworking individual and you are only seeking to do the best you can.” In this case, a manager has simply replaced a negative emotion with a positive emotion which gives the subject some kind of personal pride in the job they are doing (Aktharsha & Priya, 2012). In a smart way, the manager has not alleviated the first emotion but simply sugarcoated it by adding a positive twist into the whole situation.
The third step will involve the manager giving suggestions that could solve the problem after which s/he would re-acknowledge the emotion and appreciate the subject for their effort, concern or complaint. “I will try to look into the situation for I really do feel your concern in this and I appreciate your bringing it up to our knowledge.” Knowing that not all solutions are in their reach, emotionally intelligent leaders should be smart enough to neutralize the situation without giving in to either party’s grievances. By giving the above statement, this leader has re-assured the employee by showing empathy and appreciation while at the same time avoiding to make any promises that could result into further conflict. All three steps are coined around the five components of emotional intelligent and as they’ve been highlighted, show that one has to be able to integrate all five to boost both their interpersonal and problem solving skills (Dauti-Kadriu, 2015).
An emotionally intelligent leader should know that his/her employees have emotional barriers of some extend and in so doing, try to develop and foster learning of effective emotional intelligence across their workforce. This means assessing the individual and organization’s needs, adjusting individual expectations of each employee, their readiness for emotional intelligence development and encouraging their participation in the process. To see to this, managers should use trainers with expertise in this field to give lessons to their workers (Gandhla & maniyammai, 2011). This kind of build-in support taps into the emotions of employees and makes and makes them feel more appreciated and cared for. This can be done by using experimental methods, models and examples that are aimed at providing opportunities for practice. Fostering this change should then be encouraged through the transfer of what has been learnt in respective work areas. Good leaders should also ensure that employees develop organizational culture that supports learning from one another. A good working environment has a good bunch of workers who have the emotional stability that would counter any kind of emotional challenge that comes their way and an emotionally wise leader has the mandate to see that their workers are well equipped in this department.
As we have seen in the paper, good emotional intelligence plays a big part in improving interpersonal communication skills among workers. This in return creates a somber atmosphere where employees and management relate with ease of communication (Wilkins, Bernstein, & Bekki, 2015). We have learnt that through both verbal and non-verbal communication, one is able to read the emotions of another and in so doing, they are able to device the best approach of addressing the emotion in question. It is also apparent that emotional intelligence begins with being able to identify and address ones emotions before extending the same act to others. That identifying with oneself helps one to be in the best position to identify with others. Emotional intelligence can also be used in problem solving and proper management by managers. A manager who is flexible enough to address an emotion raised by an employee stands to benefit most from the resultant effect. Having seen the benefits of emotional intelligence at the workplace, managers with a desire to be called effective leaders are encouraged to train their staff in matters to do with emotional management, an effort that will see to great results in terms of interpersonal relations/communication among employees and the management.
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