Emotional intelligence is all about interacting well with colleagues and contributing to a positive office ambience
Businesspeople are not always open to the concept that people need to recognise, understand and manage emotions in the office environment, notes Ben Palmer, a specialist in emotional intelligence in the workplace.
There are many successful people who have achieved great success without necessarily taking the emotions of their employees into account at any point, Dr Palmer said, and these people see no reason to change their leadership style. With such businesspeople, you cannot enforce change, he said.
But many are increasingly recognising that emotional intelligence, which implies an understanding and sensitivity to other people's feelings, can be an essential part of an organisation's success, according to Dr Palmer, a scholar at the organisational psychology research unit at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.
Dr Palmer is also the author of a set of emotional intelligence assessment measures developed for the workplace.
The company Genos was set up in 2002 to develop and distribute products and applications based on Dr Palmer's work. Today, it boasts a client list that reads like a who's who of Australian business.