Emotional Intelligence

1                     Introduction:

The emotions make human beings different from other animals; it is this trait of man which makes him a ‘social animal’. Machines can work faster and with much more accuracy than the humans, but humans are emotional and machines are not. A man without emotions is heartless. Without emotions there’d be neither joys nor sorrows and life would be boring and without any motivations. Many HR analysts have looked into the emotional aspects of human beings and found that our mind all the times behaves in two distinct manners: A. logically, and B. emotionally.

Many analysts propose that IQ contributes only 20% to life success – the rest of your achievements come from “emotional intelligence” (Emotional Intelligence Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Daniel Goleman).

 That is the reason that even the strongest chess software could not defeat the great Grand Masters of chess till date. Emotional intelligence plays a great role in our career development. Ideas without emotions are nothing. Emotions make them functional and through the intelligence we use them to our benefit. It is on this pretext that the modern human resource development managers are looking into emotional intelligence with a view to utilizing HR more skillfully and productively.

Emotional Intelligence and CA Technologies:

Broadly, there are five basic extents whereby we can classify the scope of emotional intelligence. They are:

A.      self-awareness,

B.      Managing emotions,

C.      Self-motivation,

D.      Empathy

E.       Handling relationships.

Self-awareness is very important for all of us. One should be aware of his/her strengths as well as weaknesses. This is a trait of one’s personality. When one is aware of one’s limitations, he/she can manage assignments/tasks more efficiently allotted to him/her. Secondly, managing emotional stresses is vital to our responsibilities. For instance, we cannot cope with tensions and obstacles unless we have control over our emotions. Emotions like sadness, stressfulness, etc., may lead to depression. Thus, the person shall not be able to perform up to the level. Thirdly, Self-motivation plays a great role in one’s success. When we face failure and are not able to accept it, we invite stress. Success as well as the failure is the parts of our lives. At times, we have to encounter failures and fatigue. There are some of us who are not able to cope with failures and hence create problems for themselves. These problems dampen their potentials and they do not perform well. Fourthly, we should be able to spread happiness around us. Keep smiling. Encourage others when they are down, help your colleagues when in need; take every comment thrown at you, positively. These traits of your personality evolve empathy towards others. It is the human tendency that you shall get whatever you give to others; hence, the saying, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” Therefore, let your emotions not hurt others. Lastly, as we are social animals, we have created a web of relations called society. We are individual units of this society. Individuals form family, families form communities and finally the society comes into being. In this society, we have many roles to play. At home, in the office, on Public places etc., everywhere we have a specified role to play. Perhaps, that is why, Shakespeare said, “The whole world is the theatre, and we all are actors.”

Relations influence our behavior very promptly and swiftly. Therefore, we should handle our relations very artfully. We should respect other’s feelings if we wish others to respect ours. If the relations are not very well-managed, the problems may arise that would hamper your responsibilities towards your Company. That is why, management of personal relations is very important.

3                     Emotional intelligence and performance:

Through the appropriate management of our emotions, we can achieve growth in our performance. Firstly, enjoy whatever you are assigned to do. When we are engaged in the tasks that we like, we are never mentally tired. Mental freshness makes us more efficient. Therefore, enjoy your assignments and you’d never feel fatigue. Secondly, concentrate upon what you are doing. While at work, do it like a painter works skillfully to decorate his piece of art, or a musician performs with a charming expression. Forget everything else. Feel the pleasure of creating something which you are assigned to and which shall make the life of many, more comfortable. Computer applications are like literary works. Literary works give us pleasure through the beauty of words; whereas, computer applications give us pleasure by making our tasks more automotive and efficient. Everything that is done with a sense of beauty is art. When you write a program, you create a kind of new innovation which in itself is a piece of art.

4                     My own experiences:

I can say it with my own experiences that emotional intelligence is a tool that can enhance our capabilities and performance. That is why, these days, people are joining more and more laughing clubs. Through my own experiences, I can state that in our mind, there are numerous emotions – good as well as bad ones. We should try to suppress bad ones and inculcate the good ones. But sometimes, suppression may lead to depression. Therefore it is a tactful exercise. To control your anger, you may attract your attention to something else or leave the work for a while and relax. If you hear some harsh words from some of your colleagues or Managers, you can express your anger by writing your feelings on a paper and tear the same afterwards. There are many things in the world that we may not like. But we have to encounter them. Be sure that you cannot change the world; you can change yourself. Those who adapt themselves survive and all others are flown away in the strong storm of circumstances. Therefore, adapt yourself to the circumstances and you’d survive. Do not worry if the targets are not achieved; think of the reasons and remove them. Do not get disturbed if someone in the team is not performing up to the mark. Divide his incomplete work in other members. Do not get frustrated if the project is not complete and the date is fast approaching. Increase working hours, enhance performance and share the burden jointly. Smile whenever you see a sad face. Smile whenever someone behaves improperly, smile as this would motivate others in your team, smile because it costs nothing and gives enough support to your team. Finally, remember these strong words of Swami Vivekananda:

If you say, “I am, I am,” so shall you be. And if you say, I am not, think that you are not and day and night meditate upon the fact that you are nothing, miserable and low, nothing shall you be.

Losing faith in oneself is losing faith in God. Always remember. We are everything, ready to do everything, we can do everything and man must do everything.