Is emotional intelligence important?

Sanghi, Seema

The corporates have been focusing on training the employees on emotional intelligence. Is being emotional intelligence really important? Yes, it is important. Do you know that the reason for loosing customers and clients are issues related to emotions like the company's customer service. While analyzing the reasons it was found that 70 percent issues are related to emotions.

Motorola organized a Stress and EQ programme for its employees and found that 93 percent of employees had increase in productivity after the programme. American Express noted an increase of 18.1 percent in business after a programme on emotional intelligence. Yet another corporate found that the lost time accidents were reduced by 50 percent and the grievances were also reduced drastically and the productivity goes by $2.5 million.

Studies of 500 organizations worldwide indicate that people who score highest on EQ measures rise to the top of organizations. Research on 181 jobs in 121 companies worldwide showed that one out of three abilities vital for success were emotional competencies. Two-thirds of all stress-related problems result from 'abusive, unsatisfying, limiting, or ill-defined relationships'. When corporations hire MBAs, the three most desired capabilities are communication skills, interpersonal skills, and initiative. The Harvard School of Public Health predicts that by 2020, depression will be responsible for more lost workdays in the developed world than heart disease.

Being emotionally intelligence is one aspect but controlling emotions for a purpose is emotional labor. The flight attendants of airlines are expected to be smiling and cheerful no matter what stage of stress one would be going at a particular point of time. The professional requirement trains a person to handle emotions accordingly. Interestingly once Cathy Pacific flight attendant went on a smile strike to show unhappiness over the management plan to eliminate automatic pay increases. For an hour the flight attendants refused to smile on every flight. If the flight attendants felt like smiling they had to control their emotions may be by thinking on something negative just to hold back the automatic smile.