Emotional intelligence at work

The emotional intelligence at work is one of the aspects that human resources departments currently pay most attention to. Emotions are a determining factor in all professional and work-related aspects.

McKinsey & Company predicts that the need for emotional skills will surpass cognitive skills by 2030. However, in a recent Harvard Business Review study, only 18% of companies said they had ingrained emotional intelligence in their culture.

Is the business at 18% or 82%? If unclear, the organisation is much more likely to be in the 82% of companies that do not have emotional intelligence embedded in their culture.

In this post we will first look at what emotional intelligence is and then how important it is in certain areas of the company.

What is emotional intelligence in business?

When we talk about emotional intelligence at work, we simply mean the ability of people working in a company to manage their emotions. In order to be able to manage our emotions properly, we must have:

1. Self-awareness. That is to say, to know how emotions work in our organism. The same level of stress can affect one person differently from another.
2. Self-monitoring. The ability to control emotions when they get out of control and thus avoid making mistakes that we may later regret.
3. Self-motivation. Using our emotions to achieve the goals we have set ourselves.
4. Empathy. Being able to know what other people are feeling. This is particularly relevant in the internal environment as well as in customer service.

People who have high levels in these areas are people with good emotional intelligence.

What role do emotions play in the workplace?

As we mentioned in the previous point, emotional intelligence at work, and more specifically empathy, are essential to generate a good working environment. work environment.

We could say that the working environment is the water in which our employees are immersed:

• If it boils over, i.e. if it is heated, the emotions of our employees will run high and can have dangerous results.
• If it is too cold, the emotions of our employees will hardly move and there will be no motivation.

Ideally, the work environment should be kept at «a good temperature», i.e. it should allow emotions to arise and move, but not to the point of getting out of control. This is how we really get our employees to be happy and motivated.

How does emotional intelligence affect a company's operations?

When we do not reach our objective the first time, it is common for us to become frustrated and let's discourage. Unless we are well trained in our emotional intelligence at work, in which case we can draw on our emotional intelligence. coping skills, resilience and self-motivation to continue to persevere with determination until we have achieved what we set out to do.

In this respect, it is important for the human resources department to keep a close eye on the motivation level of employees and to encourage them when morale is low. If they give up, the target will never be reached and this can affect a company's operations.

Emotional intelligence and talent retention

With regard to emotional intelligence in the workplace and to talent retention, We have to say that emotions are incredibly important when it comes to an employee's decision whether to continue working in our company or to leave us and go to another company.

To prevent this from happening, we need to keep our employees' emotions and motivation going. Some tips on how to achieve this are as follows:

• Provide them with extrinsic motivators and incentives that make them see that you care about their well-being.. For example, ticket restaurant. Thanks to it, your employees will see that you have taken care to facilitate their daily meals and allow them to save on them, something that, of course, will be beneficial for the retention of talent in your company.
• Create spaces for interaction where human relationships can be forged. and that the working environment becomes warmer. For example, break-out areas, play areas or a cafeteria.
• Contribute to your employees' knowledge of emotional intelligence at work through coaching. or small training pills.

By following these tips, you will see how emotional intelligence in the workplace provides the company with many more benefits.

How to develop emotional intelligence in business?

In order to develop emotional intelligence in the company, it is necessary to know where the level is and what the organisation's strengths and weaknesses are in this area.. Self-awareness is the basis of emotional intelligence at both the individual and organisational level. You cannot grow and develop something unless you are aware of it and know the root causes. Fortunately, there are several ways of assessing a company's situation in terms of emotional intelligence.

Using ongoing surveys to include questions based on this aspect in evaluations, creating focus groups to discuss the topic or completing an organisational emotional intelligence assessment can be methods that work to take the pulse of the company.

Regardless of the method used to assess the emotional intelligence of the organisation, Key aspects to be measured include the following:

• Does it have a rich culture of commentary?
• Do people in the company feel confident to take risks and innovate?
• Is the organisation agile and resilient?
• Do people manage conflict well?
• Can people engage in productive debate?
• Are people stimulated by the organisation's goals and values?
• Do people avoid difficult conversations?
• Can leaders managing change effectively?
• Do people in the organisation manage emotions skilfully?
• Are people able to listen without judging or jumping to conclusions?
• Do people admit mistakes?
• Do people get defensive when given constructive feedback?
• Do people feel that managers empower and develop them?
• How do people manage pressure and stress?

Once you have determined the organisation's strengths and opportunities for improvement in emotional intelligence, an approach to developing those skills in the company can be determined.

To instil emotional intelligence into the culture of the business, people at all levels must learn the skills of emotional intelligence and apply them in the key areas of development identified during the assessment phase. This can be done in the following ways:

1. The first step is to identify the key behaviours that will drive the outcomes you want to achieve. For example, if the goal is to develop a feedback-rich culture, people must demonstrate the behaviour of intervening and not avoiding feedback conversations. They must model that culture by not becoming defensive when they receive feedback.
2. It pays to start at the top. If the leaders of the company are not engaged or, more importantly, are not demonstrating the key behaviours themselves, it is very difficult to get the rest of the organisation involved.
3. Provide positive feedback when people demonstrate emotional intelligence. Humans are hardwired to crave validation, so you can use that to help drive the behaviours you are trying to embed in the culture.
4. Include such behaviours in the performance management process. This shows that your company is serious about rewarding both the results people achieve and how they achieve them.
5. Provide training in these skills. Emotional intelligence is not an innate skill; is a set of knowledge, behaviours and strategies based on how our brains respond under pressure that can be learned.
6. Leveraging 360° evaluations. We all have blind spots in our self-awareness. A 360-degree assessment will help people recognise both their strengths and their opportunities to develop the key behaviours they want to embed in the culture.

Managing emotions underpins people's ability to be agile and open to change, collaborate, provide feedback, take risks, manage conflict and perform under pressure. When emotions are not managed, it negatively impacts relationships and teamwork, stifles innovation and negatively affects an organisation's performance.

Emotional intelligence is a competitive advantage and organisations that invest in integrating it into their culture will stand out from the rest.