Developing Emotional Intelligence Skills for the Workplace

Running head: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
An Essay on Developing Emotional Intelligence Skills for the Workplace
[Tesco, United Kingdom]
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Introduction
The world is constantly into transition throwing ample of new things related to people,
work and culture. The transition has its influence on many things related to a human being.
Likewise, the global business is under influence as well. The transition has given various factors
a new shape and emerged a matter of discussion for the business institutions. Out of all these
factors, Emotional Intelligence (EI) is increasingly becoming a much talked about topic across
educational institutions, organisational workplace and so forth. Emotional intelligence (EI) as
according to Goleman (2005) helps to identify and develop kinds of emotions, which are a part
of a human being. These set of emotions remain associated with them in their entire journey of
life. Goleman further says that EI helps to manage a variety of emotions, which when not
managed appropriately can lead to affected reputation and behavioural state of an employee.
Moreover, EI helps in better anger and frustration management, reduced self-destructive
behaviour, more positive feelings about self, colleagues and the organisations, better handling of
stress, and less social anxiety and loneliness (Goleman 2005). Emotional Intelligence (EI) refers
to or means the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. However, these characteristics
are also debatable as according to few scholars EI is the inborn set of traits while to many others
it can be learned (Petrides et al. 2016).
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is also the subject of discussion for this task. The task
particularly tries to establish an understanding that by developing emotional intelligence in an
individual his or her performance can be driven.
Importance of developing emotional intelligence in the workplace

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As discussed in the introductory section, emotional intelligence is quite necessary to
identify, perceive and evaluate emotions. However, what factors make up an EI is hard to
identify. According to some scholars, traits like self-confidence, leadership, adaptability and
interpersonal skills can contribute hugely to success (Petrides et al. 2016). Notably, these factors
are not traditional intelligence factors. Rather, these factors can potentially help manage
emotions. As Goleman (2005) suggests, there is more to success than just having a high IQ.
Studies have shown that intellectual quotient may not be very impactful in achieving the success
for a person. Further, IQ just indicates the set of numerical and analytical capabilities possessed
by a person. There is little evidence for a fact that IQ contributes effectively to achieving
success. Leaders like Gandhi and Bill Gates to name a few were successful because they had
expertise in their fields. Goleman (2005) argues that it is not IQ but Emotional Intelligence (EI),
which makes these people the true leaders.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) does have an important existence in the modern
workplace. In traditional times, IQ was a significant part of the workplace; however, the modern
era of business is shifting more to EI. It is due to many studies that suggest EI is much bigger
than IQ in developing leadership skills in an individual. Key success factors like workplace
diversity suggest that emotional intelligence (EI) is increasingly becoming an inseparable part of
the modern workplace (Serrat 2017). Workplace diversity is an increasing practices these days
(Guillaume et al. 2017). Industry experts believe that workplace diversity adds variety to skills. It
consequently widens up the project taking capabilities. However, studies have shown the level of
complexity involved in managing a diverse workforce. A diverse workforce produces many
workplace challenges such as ineffective interactions between people (Guillaume et al. 2017).
Research suggests that workplace success depends on human interaction. Nevertheless, studies

3EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
have also shown that emotional intelligence (EI) does influence human interaction (Lee &
Chelladurai 2018).
Emotional intelligence does also help in people management, which is increasingly
becoming a challenge for global managers. People management is a fundamental aspect of
leaders. When leaders lack capabilities in assessing their people they might have to struggle with
managing them. Indeed, there is a need to implement strong emotional awareness regularly to
make better decisions. Studies suggest that a leader with efficient awareness of emotions receives
more respects from its followers (Blackwood & Blackwood 2019). Studies suggest the numerous
adverse impacts of lack of emotional intelligence in people and leaders. When there is a lack of
emotional intelligence the workplace becomes home to various unethical practices. This includes
bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination. These practices make the workplace culture a
toxic culture (Barak 2016). According to a few scholars, friendlier workplace culture is the best
solution to these toxic activities (Barak 2016). For a friendlier culture, leaders must have a good
understanding of their people. They should know things that compel some people for unethical
practices. Studies say that until and unless the leaders have a set of intelligence to understand the
emotions compelling few people for unethical activities they will not be able to control it (Lee &
Chelladurai 2016).
Emotional intelligence is an important skill for HR managers. The personal and
professional details attached to the resumes explain an overall figure of the candidate; however,
it does not express some of the most important aspects of employment. This is the ability to
relate to the organisational culture. During the interview process, HR managers should assess
whether the applicant is in fit with the organisational culture. There will be a need for a set of
interview questions specifically aimed to observe whether the applicant is able to use appropriate

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emotional intelligence in answering these questions. If the applicant can, this will mean the
applicant has a good understanding of the situation and the emotional intelligence (Gabriel et al.
2016). Emotional intelligence is essentially vital for a successful career for employees.
So far, the importance of developing emotional intelligence has been discussed. Now,
there will be a discussion on how to develop or practice emotional intelligence in the workplace.
In this regard, Mindfulness-based approach could be highly useful. A mindfulness-based
approach helps in becoming mindful to what they do, perceive and believe of things in the
workplace. It talks about how an individual in the workplace is mindful in their respective work
setting. Mindfulness is not exactly positive psychology (Fund 2016). It is very difficult to define
a mindfulness-based approach. In spite of the challenge in defining the term, few scholars have
done exceedingly well in illustrating the concept of mindfulness. One of these scholars is
Hyland, Lee and Mills (2015). Hyland, Lee and Mills (2015) identify emotional intelligence as
having three distinct elements in it. According to the authors, mindfulness can be described as a
sense of consciousness for the present state. Making it clear it means that an individual being
mindful to his or her work setting will not think of what happened in the past and will not worry
for the future as well. Indeed, the individual will possess a tendency to be in the present state and
deliver his or her best in everything they do (Hyland, Lee and Mills 2015).
Hyland, Lee and Mills (2015) also suggest that mindfulness does mean paying close
attention to both internal and external factors, which influence the performance of an individual.
The third element is having acceptance to internal and external stimuli (Hyland, Lee and Mills
2015). This suggests that mindfulness is not just about paying close attention to internal and
external stimuli but having receptive nature for this as well. Brown, Ryan and Creswell (2007)
gave a more summarized definition of emotional intelligence. According to the authors,

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emotional intelligence is receptive attention to and awareness of present events, decisions and
experiences (Brown, Ryan and Creswell 2007). As opined by Hülsheger et al. (2013), a
mindfulness-based approach is about noticing an event or a decision. It is not about reacting to
and be judgmental to a decision being made. This is the reason it is also termed as ‘Mindful
Information Processing’ because a mindful employee will look for the information and notice it.
The individual will have fewer emotions and reactiveness to a decision or an event. A mindful
employee will collect information from the surrounding and will possibly have a receptive nature
to it. Mindfulness as according to many scholars is a natural human capacity that varies from an
individual to another under the given circumstances. An employee could be less judgmental to a
decision or is focused on what the –presenter is talking about in the meeting. The level of
mindfulness in an employee will be different under different circumstances.
A mindfulness-based approach could be beneficial for an individual and the business
as well. Mindfulness results in improved social relationships in the workplace. Mindfulness can
even buffer the adverse impact of workplace stressors, foster communication, promote thriving
in employees, and creativity and citizenship behaviours. According to Fund (2016), mindfulness
in the workplace promotes positive social connections employing integral mindfulness processes.
Most importantly, it does so with the help of empathy and response flexibility. This means an
individual possessing mindful behaviour to things will also have increased empathy for
circumstances. For example, a mindful employee will help another employee by mindfulness he
or she holds for a situation. A mindful employee holds a reactive tendency to a given situation.
The mindful employee will straight forward come for helping another employee on his or her
subject-related issues without going for a thorough evaluation of the problem situation (Baer