A company’s culture is defined by employees and their emotional intelligence which manifests itself by creating an efficient working environment.
Most leadership qualities are easily recognizable; technical skillset, confidence, enthusiasm and intellect to name a few. But time-honored progression in the corporate world has shown that there are some qualities that draw a distinction between exceptional/outstanding leaders and average ones. One such quality, that is not easily distinguishable initially, but fairly apparent later, is emotional intelligence.
Employers and hiring managers nowadays, give weight to a candidate’s EQ (Emotional Intelligence or Emotional Quotient), to gauge whether he would be a good leader and if he/she would bring value to the company. The biggest reason for this preference has to do with seeking to perpetuate the company’s culture.
One might ask, how does emotional intelligence in the workplace affect a company’s culture? To answer this question, it is important to first understand the concept of company culture. Company culture is basically the various elements that together contribute to create a unique socio-economic and socio-psychological environment in the workplace. These elements include, the values and behaviours of the employees, the policies that they are regulated by, the nature of interaction between employees and how successful they are in maintaining an efficient and healthy working environment that paves the way for their own personal growth and company’s success.
For the successful maintenance of a company’s culture as outlined above, the emotional intelligence in the workplace is critical. How do the employees operate, how they interact with each other, what level of comfort do they share, and how do they navigate their energies to help those around them making it a team effort; emotional intelligence in the workplace is what helps to ensure all of these things are in tandem and remain positively charged. Research on human emotions suggests that emotional intelligence helps people to intuitively use their emotions to fuel their actions in such a way that it brings value and benefits themselves and those around them. This is one good reason why emotional quotient is so important to maintain a healthy work culture in an organization.
With a higher graph of emotional intelligence, people or employees can have better interactions and build stronger professional and social relationships with their co-workers. Managers especially need to work hard on their EQ, as it will help them gain the respect of their team members. Having a sizeable amount of emotional intelligence in leadership will help managers in balancing employer-employee relationship while keeping the spirit of teamwork alive.
You might also be interested to read: Importance of Organizational Culture – The Extent it Colors the Environment for Employees
Here are some benefits of emotional intelligence, that will help us understand how EQ manifests in a company and give a fair idea on how to develop emotional intelligence in the workplace to maintain a successful company culture throughout your organization.
Emotional Intelligence in leadership
A company’s driving force are its managers, executives and leaders. When the leaders are high on EQ, they are in a better position to pass it on to their corresponding team and thus build a network of emotionally intelligent corporate body. It is safe to say that the responsibility of building a healthy working environment for all its employees rests on the shoulders of the leaders. Leaders need to have a higher curve of emotional quotient themselves so that they may be better able to form healthy relations with their subordinates and in effect of that, teach their co-workers how to develop emotional intelligence in the workplace. Research shows that 95% of managers in human resources consider EQ to be critically important, as it helps them keep their own emotions in check and give them the ability to develop better problem-solving skills. One of the benefits of emotional intelligence in leadership is that it helps managers to understand and empathize with their team members and in turn gain their confidence. This confidence of the team members in their boss, makes them more efficient in their jobs and helps to bring further value to the company.
Emotional Intelligence in the workforce
When the employees are emotionally intelligent, they end up nurturing a healthy self-confidence that can be contagious to their peers and colleagues. Such employees with a high EQ want to always challenge themselves to be better, work better and improve daily. They feel confident enough to be committed to bring success to not just themselves but their company too. They build better relationships whether with clients, managers or their co-ordinates, and they love to make team effort, lauding and giving out constructive criticism wherever they feel like but also willingly accepting reciprocation from their peers. Such people are not offended when they receive feedback on their work from either their manager or the client; instead it makes them eager to improve and focus on their end goals. EQ in the workforce keeps growing through the hierarchy, ultimately highly motivated, growth-oriented organizations that are performance driven.
Emotional Intelligence in the organization
When the leaders/managers as well as the subordinates/employees are all emotionally intelligent, it automatically gives rise to a positive atmosphere within the organization. The company’s work culture improves and that shows up in the progress report. This is how emotional intelligence in the workplace manifests itself. Employees and employers begin to understand each others’ strengths and weaknesses, and each does his or her own bit to bring the best to the table. The resulting holistic dynamic, is what brings growth, returns and success to any organization. When everyone is working hard, there is no place for those who aren’t willing to do the same. A successful company culture will ensure that anyone who is struggling to perform immediately gets the help they need to get up to speed.
The outcome of emotional intelligence
When emotional quotient is prioritized during hiring of employees, the company can put together a workforce that is highly motivated to perform and bring desired results. With a band of such driven and inspiring professionals, companies are able to provide their best to their clients, prioritizing client satisfaction, goals and profiles. Employees learn the importance of customer-centred service, try to understand the customer’s needs, insecurities, potential goals, and that in turn helps workers and managers to address each client in a different way, one that best suits their profiles. This positive outcome and its effects arise owing to the EQ level that reverberates throughout the company.
In conclusion, emotional intelligence manifests itself in organizations by building stronger and closely-knit teams, extremely confident and motivated workforce that is self-aware, and providing services that are highly client-centred and ultimately drives the company towards success.
References:
- ‘Emotional Intelligence is the Key to a Successful Company Culture’, David Miller, 07 Jun 2019
- ‘Emotional Intelligence and Company Culture’, Meghan Mohr, 20 Jun 2017
