How to apply emotional intelligence in the workplace

It has been argued that paying attention to emotional intelligence in the workplace can be highly beneficial to an organisation’s performance. Here, we’ll explore that concept a little further.

A great example

An example of this is a report entitled ‘EQ and the Bottom Line: Emotional Intelligence Increases Individual Occupational Performance, Leadership and Organisational Productivity’ (Bharwaney, Bar-On, and MacKinlay 2007).

One of the authors, Reuven Bar-On, formulated one of the mixed models of emotional intelligence we examined in Week 1. In the report, the authors examine how emotional intelligence interventions can be introduced and implemented within a workplace setting.

Although you can read the whole report (and this will give you an insight into how many of the steps of this course can be translated into practice), for the purposes of this task, we will focus on Section 3, ‘Applying Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace’.

Examine the diagram above, which represents the ten steps used in the design and delivery of a senior leadership development programme. Read in detail about each step in the report (pages 14–16), and then use them to consider what emotional intelligence interventions might be needed in your own workplace.

Your task

Think about where you work, or where you have worked previously.

Please remember that it is very important to keep all references to individuals and organisations anonymous.

What emotional intelligence issues do you think the organisation might have?

Use some (or all) of the ten key steps to make an initial diagnosis.

For example, how would you encourage participation to develop emotional intelligence in your workplace, or what research might you have to do to make a business case for such a project?

The authors offer some starting points for maximising organisational productivity on page 10 of the report.

Reference

_{Bharwaney G., Bar-On, R., and MacKinlay, A. (2007) EQ and the Bottom Line: Emotional Intelligence Increases Individual Occupational Performance, Leadership and Organisational Productivity [online] available from http://www.eiconsortium.org/pdf/Bharwaney_BarOn_MacKinlay_EQ_and_Bottom_Line.pdf [3 August 2018]}