What Every Executive Needs to Know

The importance of understanding Emotion Intelligence | By: Kristen Haldeman | October 15, 2019

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

Susan Packard, cofounder of the HGTV Network, writes in her book Fully Human about the steps one must take to live an emotionally intelligent life. She defines emotional intelligence, known in the business world as EQ, as “the awareness and control of our emotions and the ability to identify and respond effectively to the emotions of others.” The application and practice of EQ she labels as EQ Fitness. By demonstrating EQ Fitness, executives connect more with their employees and create an atmosphere of relation.

Knowing a few business executives myself, I can picture them rolling their eyes and asking “what good is relation and connectedness and emotion in the business world? I need numbers; I need results.” According to Todd Richardsen, founder of Emplify, “It is up to employers to help facilitate holistic connectedness because when this connectedness is achieved, employees become more engaged and contribute at a higher level.” How much is this higher level? It’s about a 20-25% increase in productivity when organizations and employees are connected. 

For example, a national radio station has sixteen promotional offices located around the country. The offices are split between the west and east coast with each side having one leader who represents the offices to headquarters. The east coast leader, Troy, flies from his own office in North Carolina to visit his Philadelphia office and gather what it is like for his employees to work in that particular office. He takes them out for lunch. He asks about their fulfillment at work. He takes notes on their concerns and repeats back to them what he hears. He provides encouraging and guiding words for their specific situations. As a result, the Philadelphia office recognizes the relationship built between the leader and themselves and work harder at producing quality content. 

Maybe for your company, flying to visit local offices is too large of a first step towards connectedness. Perhaps it begins with a simple office meeting or email directed to individual employees asking about their work. Begin to close the gap of the 70% of employees that feel disengaged at their work. It does not need to be a grandiose gesture to connect, there must be some form of relation in the workplace, an understanding of emotional intelligence from the employees,  for employees to commit to the company and produce quality work.