Training on Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligences were presented to the world in the mid 90’s after magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan highlighted the areas of the brain that stimulates as people think and feel. The business world adopted this scientific approach to behavior, and it opened new ways of tackling personal and interpersonal difficulties at work (Biech, 2020). The concept of emotional intelligence was first identified by Salovey and Mayer in the 1990’s, who proposed that it implies the capability to understand emotions, incorporate emotions in thought, understand and mange emotions successfully. The concept was popularized by Goleman during the 1995 period, defining EI as “the capacity for recognizing our own and that of others, motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves and in others” (Taylor, 2014).

According to Goleman, Emotional intelligence has for major components.

Self-management – this is the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses moods and regulate own conduct with tendency to pursue goals. Competencies associated with the component are self-control, Integrity, initiative, adaptability. comfort with ambiguity, openness to change, and desire to achieve.

2  Self-awareness – the ability to recognize and understand a person’s own moods and emotions, motivations, and their effect on other individuals. Competencies linked with this component is Self-confidence, self-assessment, and emotional self-awareness.

3.  Social Awareness – ability to understand the emotional state of other employees and skill in treating employees according to their emotional reactions. Compassion, expertise in talent management, organizational awareness, multicultural sensitivity, Valuing diversity and service to clients are identified as the key competencies.

      Social Skills – Proficiency to manage relationships and build networks to achieve desired goals from others while reaching personal goals. Also, the ability to see common grounds in a multi-cultural environment wile building a rapport. Leadership, change catalyst, conflict management, influence, effectiveness in bringing a team together is considered as key competencies under this area (Taylor, 2014).

The above components and competencies can be simplified through the below table.

Table 1 (Biech, 2020)

	What I See	What I do
Personal Competencies	Self-awareness	Self-management
Social Competencies	Social awareness	Relationship Management

 

Since Goleman’s contribution to emotional intelligence, Clarke (2007) have summarized three major models of emotional intelligence which dominates this part of study.

1.     Personality Models – Considered the most common theory of emotional intelligence following Goleman’s. This model considers EI as containing a range of emotional inclinations as well as skills.

2.     Mixed Models - consist of characteristics of personality as well as skills to identify emotional intelligence and manage emotions.

3.     The ability Model – defines emotional intelligence as a cognitive ability that involves the capacity to identify, reason with, and utilize emotions (Taylor, 2014)

Ways of improving emotional intelligence in the work environment.

In the modern era, many experts believe that emotional intelligence can be learned and developed overtime. It is also said that EQ plays a vital role in an individual’s professional success. The following ways can be used to improve the Emotional intelligence of employees and to promote an EI driven culture within an organization.

·    HR could either hire emotionally intelligent employees or enhance the emotional intelligence of the current employees. Fastest method to increase emotional intelligence competencies is to hire individuals who demonstrate those competencies and behaviors. Process of hiring could use an Emotional intelligence competence model, Understanding Competency Clusters, creating algorithms and using selection tools.

·   HR could also use Training and development to increase emotional intelligence within the organization. The HR system should consider the following ways before initiating efforts to increase EI within an organization: Leaders should understand the long-term benefits of emotional intelligence, have leaders experience the training before, help managers communicate the purpose, provide the heads with ongoing feedback.

·    Performance management also could help the organization in developing EI within the employees (Goleman, 2001).

Effective Training and Development Interventions

·    Human Relations Training – Pennsylvania State University developed a training model during the 1950’s, which consisted of 3 phases. Each phase primarily focused on Cognitive learning (discussion on managerial styles), Experiential learning (individual and group exercises, listening exercises, role plays), Motivational Theories (Maslow’s, Porters, McGregor, etc..) (Goleman, 2001)

·    Training on behavior models – this training model includes social and emotional competencies such as accurate self-assessment, Adaptability, initiative and innovation, empathy, and communication. Content based presentations, extensive role playing and encouraging on applying the learnings and providing feedbacks. (Goleman, 2001)

·  Self-management training for problem employees – Provide leadership and management trainings to develop interpersonal skills and self-motivation.

References

Biech, E. (2020). ATD's Handbook for Training and Talent Development. ATD.

Boyatzis, R (1982) The Competent Manager, New York, Wiley Competency and Emotional Intelligence (2006/7) Raising Performance Through Competencies: The annual benchmarking survey, London, Competency and Emotional Intelligence

Clarke, N. (2006). Emotional intelligence training: A case of caveat emptor. Human Resource Development Review, 5(4), 422–441.

Dulewicz, V and Higgs, M (1999) The seven dimensions of emotional intelligence, People Management, 28, October, p 53

Goleman, C. C. (2001). The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace. Jossey-Bass.

Taylor, M. A. (2014). Armstrong's Handbook of of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page.