It wasn't easy. Researchers initially struggled to identify common factors among successful teams because Google relied so heavily on data. They discovered that some of these teams consisted of friends who socialized outside of work, while The New York Times reported that other teams included people with only professional relationships.
Over several years, the Aristotle project produced some unexpected results. Researchers found that the best teams were not those with the most intelligent members—in the conventional sense of the word—or the hardest workers. Among other essential traits like competence and clear goals, it became evident that these teams were apart because their members listened to and respected each other and were unafraid to take risks. What distinguished these teams was that all members felt "psychological safety." In short, these teams consisted of people hired for their high emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence Importance at Work
Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is defined as the ability to understand and manage one's own emotions and those of others.
Joshua Freedman, one of the founders and CEO of EQ Network Six Seconds, explains emotional intelligence by saying, “Simply put, Emotional Intelligence means being smart with feelings.” Undoubtedly, we all have emotions, but emotional intelligence involves recognizing and understanding them.
Freedman says, “We can be smarter in dealing with our emotions by trying to assess and understand them. Emotionally intelligent people seek information from their feelings and use that information to solve problems.” Emotional intelligence's importance varies across different jobs. According to knowledge consultant Victoria Neal, who specializes in human resources, having a high emotional intelligence is crucial for positions in management and leadership.
Neal says, “If you give anyone a choice between working under a manager who empathizes with them, listens to their ideas, and appreciates their contributions, versus working under a quick-tempered, critical manager, everyone will undoubtedly choose to work under the first type of manager. Everyone prefers to work for someone who is understanding, considerate, and capable of managing their emotions than for someone critical and judgmental.”
However, positions requiring teamwork also require high emotional intelligence. Success requires effective communication, teamwork skills, and collective problem-solving. Freedman states, "The more a job requires collaboration and dealing with emotions, the greater the need for emotional intelligence." Sales jobs require high flexibility and self-motivation, but interacting and building relationships with others—including clients—is also a crucial component.
Similarly, Freedman stresses that managing a remote team or promoting positive change necessitates a higher level of emotional intelligence because of the increased focus on these tasks' emotional components. Whether they are short- or long-term, many of the issues we encounter at work have emotional roots, for example, being able to inspire others and ourselves, collaborating to overcome challenges, confronting and resolving issues when they arise, encouraging creativity, interacting with clients, and more.
Freedman adds, “Research indicates that emotionally intelligent people are more effective as individual employees, improving the overall team performance. This is especially true for managers, whose emotional intelligence boosts their capacity to improve team performance and foster engagement.”
4 Tips to Help You Hire Emotionally Intelligent People
According to Freedman, there is ample evidence that indicates employees can be trained in emotional intelligence. However, some companies may lack the resources to educate and train employees in emotional intelligence skills. Therefore, companies need to focus on hiring already emotionally intelligent candidates. So, what strategies can help you find these candidates during the overall hiring process?
Freedman states that it all starts with the job description. It is essential to consider emotional intelligence's importance in your company's success, the work culture, and the specific job. He says, “I see this as crucial when identifying the people you want to attract to work in your company.”
Here are some tips to help you identify emotionally intelligent candidates for your company's positions:
1. Ask Behavioral Questions
Neal suggests questioning the candidates about their behavior during the job interview. You could ask the candidate, "What qualities do you think make someone an ideal coworker?" as an example. or "Tell me about a time when you encountered a difficulty at work and how you resolved it." Neal advises interviewers to pose tough questions about setbacks, rejections, and conflicts at work, like inquiries about a project's failure or a team member's inadequate performance. How did the candidate handle these difficulties? Were they able to turn negatives into self-improvement opportunities?
According to Neal, “The purpose of these questions is to encourage the candidate to discuss how they handle setbacks and stressful situations rather than to evaluate them based on their failures. You are trying to understand how the candidate reacts when things go wrong, so focus your questions on behaviors, use open-ended questions, and then delve deeper into the candidate's responses by asking follow-up questions.”
2. Assess the Candidate's Emotional Intelligence
Freedman suggests assessing the candidate's emotional intelligence level and questioning in a way that reveals their level. He says, “You can certainly ask questions about emotional intelligence skills, such as those addressing the candidate's resilience, positive mindset, and ability to handle emotionally taxing situations. However, you will not achieve the same results' accuracy from candidates' answers as you would from emotional intelligence assessments.”
3. Integrate Emotional Intelligence into Your Company's Culture and Talent Acquisition Strategy
Additionally, Freedman advises businesses to consider emotional intelligence as a crucial component of their entire hiring and talent acquisition strategy, not just when interviewing potential employees. He says, "Emotional intelligence should be a criterion at all stages of the talent search and hiring strategy, not just during the selection phase among candidates, if companies want to achieve outstanding results."
This means that emotional intelligence should be considered in everything related to talent at the company level, including hiring decisions, the standards you use to evaluate candidates, creating a company culture, and performance reviews. Neal agrees, saying, “To maximize emotional intelligence's benefits, a comprehensive approach is required. We should certainly focus on emotional intelligence in new candidates.
However, conflicts will surely arise when you hire an emotionally intelligent employee to work under someone with lower emotional intelligence. You might be holding additional interviews because you think the recent hire's performance is the issue.”
Neal advises hiring managers not to be overly impressed by a candidate's technical skills or practical experience, or at least not to be so impressed that they overlook the candidate's emotional intelligence. Although this candidate may excel technically, they could harm the team's performance if they lack the necessary interpersonal or teamwork skills. Emotional incompetence can impact company expenses, as you will bear additional financial costs to hire new employees.
Neal states, “Company leaders should strive to guide employees and instill this culture at the company level. If the company culture does not encourage collaboration and inclusivity but leads to the opposite, your employees will not perform at their best. They will consider applying for jobs elsewhere, and you will constantly have to search for new employees.”
4. Include Emotional Intelligence in Your Core Hiring Process
It's unnecessary to get to the point where emotional intelligence permeates the workplace culture overnight. It is sufficient to begin stressing the value of emotional intelligence by launching targeted, continuous initiatives that involve all the company's departments.
Freedman says, “Most companies believe they should adopt initiatives to consider emotional intelligence, but they treat it as a simple, one-time process that does not require significant effort.
However, if you want this to reflect positively on the company's profits, start by researching the idea's viability at the corporate level and take appropriate actions based on questions like: How does this action enhance your competitive advantage? How does it add value?” He adds, “This should be considered part of the core strategy aimed at maintaining the company's distinctiveness and providing value to stakeholders. It shouldn't be considered an optional addition.”
Neal points out that some jobs are appropriate for people with low emotional intelligence. She says, “Emotional intelligence is critical for company culture, but some positions do not require a high level of emotional intelligence, unlike leadership roles and teamwork-requiring jobs. Often, these positions are independent and can be performed individually without requiring significant interaction with others, such as engineers, computer specialists, product quality experts, and data entry personnel. These positions and many others can suit individuals with lower emotional intelligence.”
Freedman affirms that emotional intelligence is an acquired skill. He states, "I believe it could be a great idea for your career advancement to conduct an emotional intelligence assessment, determine how much of this intelligence type you possess, and develop a plan to improve yourself in this area. I stress that career advancement and emotional intelligence are highly correlated. It is essential to do this if you want to succeed as a manager."
In Conclusion
There is mounting evidence that emotional intelligence plays a critical role in the success of teams and companies. Although there may be other studies of a similar nature, Google's study is undoubtedly the most extensive and well-known in this field.
Having emotionally intelligent employees boosts your chances of success and makes you stand out in the job market, regardless of your company's industry.
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