Emotional or Managing it?

In a classroom setting, a child gets reprimanded by his teachers for throwing a fit.

At home, a child either gets a pep talk or disciplinary action from the parents. The child goes to bed and when he wakes up the next day, it is a whole new day. He goes back to school and the incident is put behind until it happens again.

In the office, forgiveness either doesn’t come by easy or doesn’t come at all. The lapse in control of emotions or impulses can cause grave damage to one’s reputation, future and career.

David Goleman, psychologist and award-winning author of Emotional Intelligence, defined Emotional Intelligence (EQ) as a set of skills, including control of one’s impulses, self-motivation, empathy and social competence in interpersonal relationships

The workplace is a fast paced environment constantly consisting of stress and pressure. Everyone is fighting to keep afloat in the endless pile of work and the mounting pressure and now keeping a lookout of the emotions of others is in the equation? Not only does one have to maintain a high monitor on his emotions, impulses and reactions he has to manage, be in tuned and react accordingly to everyone that he is working with. That is EQ in a nutshell.

It is really not that difficult. Some of it has been inculcated since young. If a child sees another crying child, he passes his own toy in bid to cheer him up. If a child senses his mother’s bad mood, he keeps his silence lest to aggravate it. But of course as a child, when angered, he lashes out without a second thought of the consequence. Adults, on the other hand, are better equipped with the ability to control and rein. It is simply that amidst the harsh money oriented world with so much more distraction, responsibilities and pressure, adults have grown to be less empathising and less inclined to care or be in tuned to emotions of others.

In an organization, there is seldom a one man show. It takes more than just two hands to clap. There is an old saying that goes “Nothing runs better than a well-oiled machine”. If an organization that consists of different parts of a machine is well oiled and meshes together, productivity can only increase.

EQ is a constant conscientious conscious effort on one’s part. It also has to be imparted and shared as knowledge to the rest. It is the making of a great leader.

Editor: JT