Building blocks of emotional intelligence

EI and Motivation

Emotional Intelligence refers to that ability of managing one’s emotions and also handling the emotions of other people. Within organizations, leaders and managers ought to have this trait as it ensures they not only take care of the employees but also ensure they can perform to their best even at their worst moments.

EI is composed of a number of building blocks; to mention some, they include emotional self-awareness, self-perception and leadership, self-regard, self-actualization, ability to accept one’s strengths and weaknesses, ability to understand feelings and finally the ability to improve as an individual (Cote & Miners, 2006). Some of these EI building blocks have significant impacts on the ability of management to improve the performance of employees as well as job satisfaction. For instance, ability to understand, respect and accept the strengths and weaknesses of employees would be very important in enhancing employee performance. With managers having a deep understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each employee, they will always assign them tasks in accordance to their abilities. For example, there are employees who work best while in teams; others find strength while working all alone. Knowing such differences in terms of strengths and weaknesses will thus be a benefit to managers as they will ensure workers can be placed in job environments which satisfy their needs and ultimately enhance their job performance.

Emotional self-awareness is another important EI building block which can impact the ability of the managers in enhancing job satisfaction and employee performance. Emotions and especially negative emotions may create conflicts within workplaces. If a manager cannot effectively manage their own emotions, it becomes disastrous to the rest of employees. This may lead into employees holding grudges and also affecting their motivation which in the end will result into poor performance. Through emotional self-awareness, managers have the ability to understand their own emotions and manage them in a way that would not affect the employees. In this way, the employees’ motivation would not be affected in any way thus ensuring they retain their performance levels within the organization. Emotional self-awareness also goes hand in hand with the ability of understanding the feelings of other people. An excellent manager must know that employees are also faced with several issues which may affect their feeling and emotions, hence negatively impacting their performances. A manager who can understand the feelings of his employees every moment will always create an enabling working environment for employees, thus, positively impacting employee performance and job satisfaction (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).

Based on the research carried out, the task force identified Hertzberg’s two factor theory as the main motivational theory for solving the issue at hand. According to this theory, two major factors contribute to employee motivation and they include motivator factors and hygiene factors. Under motivator factors elements such as career progression, feeling recognized and enjoying one’s work were identified as the major motivational elements. Under hygiene factors, elements such as poor salaries, company policies and negative relationship with managers and leaders can lead to lack of motivation and dissatisfaction among employees.

With respect to this motivational theory, the task force decided to use positive reinforcement to influence the employees of this organization and also offer a solution to the issue. Positive reinforcement works by presenting a motivating stimulus after a certain behavior has been exhibited. In this way, therefore, the company will use Hertzberg’s two factor motivational theory and emphasize more on motivator factors such as being recognized and career progression as the main motivation stimuli which will positively influence employee performance. For example, those employees who will perform in an exemplary manner will be recognized before others and awarded a token for their outstanding works. Career progression in terms of holding higher offices will be guaranteed to such employees only when they exhibit excellent performances within the organization. The solution will work as all employees desire to progress and also be given a pat on the back for their hard work.

EI and Social Skills and Decision Making

EI is composed of five major core concepts; they include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Self-awareness involves understanding one’s feelings in real time. Our feelings and emotions do change over time and it is important for a manager to know how they feel as it directly affects the process of decision making. Self-regulation is that ability to manage one’s emotions so that they do not interfere with the capability to make rational decisions. Motivation is perceived as the ability to persevere while facing challenges and setbacks; it involves the strife to constantly improve despite of previous failures. Empathy is that ability to understand what other people feel. Such a leader or manager is capable of showing kindness to employees who are experiencing a difficult moment. Lastly, social skills are viewed as the ability to handle the emotions of others and one’s own emotions in a productive manner (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2008).