We have known about Emotional Intelligence (EI) for some time now as the ability to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of those around you. You would think that talking about it, receiving training in it and trying to practice it would make a fundamental difference in the work climate of a broad range of organizations.
In some cases it has: we have worked with organizations where the value of EI as a motivating force has been understood and authentic empathy and social skills have become the way of doing things. In many others, unfortunately, not so much…We think that this is due to the flow from knowledge, to skill to motivation. It appears that some organizations have acquired the knowledge related to EI but have not progressed to the skills and motivational level. Knowing that there is a difference between intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence is one thing; building the skills set that drives a different way of behaving is quite another. Changing those behaviour patterns that were built on “power over” and punishment are hard to replace with those behaviours that speak to nurturing and developing others and demonstrating empathy in human relationships.
Kathleen Logan-Prince and her spouse George Prince (of Synectics fame) were early proponents of moving EI past the knowledge stage and into skills and motivation. They believed that it was only by demonstrating the effects of behaviour in the workplace that one could judge whether an effective transition to a positive climate or “field” had been achieved. They saw behaviour that wasn’t emotionally intelligent as causing ongoing anxiety in organizations.
Meanwhile, we at RANA have observed – and very recently – a Chief Executive Officer berating a member of his Senior Management Team at length and in front of his peers; another Senior Manager using EI as a weapon to enforce political correction, without in any way addressing the fundamental behaviours of empathy; the members of a Senior Management team banding together to put down a revolt among their employees who were simply needing to gain a better understanding of a change that was being forced upon them. Fear and anxiety are the direct opposites of what EI is supposed to engender by way of a positive – and productive – climate in the workplace. Why would any right thinking leader or manager think that causing or imposing fear and anxiety is the best way to get things done?
So, the question is well worth asking: are we really behaving as if we have learned the benefits of EI? Have we learned the skills of EI? Or, are we paying lip service to a management fad and waiting for it to go away so we can continue to behave from our primitive brain? Really Short-Sighted? You betcha…
