Using emotional intelligence at work

Why is it that some people with high intellectual capacity are unable to get far in their careers while those less endowed manage to succeed? One reason worth examining concerns a way of being “smart†other than having a high IQ.

Research over the past 20 years has suggested that emotional intelligence, referred to as EQ (the Q stands for quotient), is a significant contributor to success in the business world. In columns this week and next week, we’ll look at what contributes to EQ and how to improve your own.

Simply put, EQ refers to one’s ability to perceive emotions, read interpersonal cues and tune-in to others’ needs and feelings in order to relate appropriately and get people to do what you want them to do.

I once evaluated a morale problem in a manufacturing company whose plant manager had a reputation for being brilliant but callous.

I interviewed those who reported directly to him as part of a broader investigation.

One incident described to me was especially telling. Jane, a direct report, had just returned from vacation with a cast on her arm, the result of a fall. During a team meeting, Jane requested that she be allowed to leave early for a medical appointment.

The boss replied by indicating that, to the contrary, she needed to work overtime to meet a new deadline, and never acknowledged her obvious injury.

The team was aghast at his insensitivity and noted confidentially that they would do the bare minimum to keep their jobs. The boss’s limited emotional intelligence undermined morale and threatened productivity.

Experts view emotional intelligence as a progression of emotional learning. Peter Salovey and John Mayer have defined emotional intelligence; the five steps can be broken down as follows.

1. Identification of one’s own emotions

This is the foundation for emotional intelligence and represents self-awareness. Do you recognize when you are angry, frustrated or joyful? Do you deny having feelings or place little importance on them?

2. Managing emotions

How well do you handle your emotions? Can you bounce back from disappointment? Can you control your temper? Workplace rampages are a prime example of mismanaged emotions emanating from uncontrollable rage.

3. Motivating oneself

With emotions under control, one is able to focus energy on a goal through self-discipline, enthusiasm and optimism.

4. Recognizing others’ emotions

Empathy is a crucial social skill. Are you able to recognize others’ emotions and “feel†with them? Can you “read†people, that is, understand where they are coming from?

5. Handling relationships

The pinnacle of emotional intelligence is the ability to manage emotions in others. Can you calm an angry customer? Can you rev up and motivate discouraged staff? Are you able to influence decision-making?

Until next week’s column, think about your own EQ and that of those closest to you.

Danella Schiffer, Ph.D., is an industrial/organizational psychologist who resides in Salisbury and works nationally, with organizations and individuals. She can be reached at danella.schiffer@att.net.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less