Campus Review Volume 28 Issue 12 December 2018 | Seite 7

workforce
campusreview.com.au
The emotional edge
The increasing importance
of emotional intelligence in
the modern workplace.
Ben Foote interviewed by Dallas Bastian
H
ow often do I react rather than pausing and reflecting?
What are the positive and negative things I do in the
workplace? Can you give me feedback about my
leadership style?
These are examples of questions that Ben Foote, chief executive
of the Australian Institute of Management, says higher education
professionals can ask colleagues in order to get a sense of
their level of emotional intelligence and how this is interpreted in
the workplace.
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Foote says that, as machines continue to take over manual tasks,
it’s important to help people improve their communication skills
and their ability to understand and manage their emotions.
“For people in higher education – in terms of how they treat
colleagues and interact with students – soft skill development,
and emotional intelligence development, is going to be
critical,” he says.
Campus Review spoke with Foote about the ways training can
help people improve their emotional intelligence and what they
can do on their own to boost soft skills.
CR: You’re an advocate for increased focus on emotional intelligence
and the development of soft skills in the workplace. How important
is emotional intelligence in higher education roles?
BF: Firstly, we’re seeing a rapidly changing workplace and a future
where machines are going to take over a huge amount of technical
skills, meaning the most important skills for people to learn are the
human skills, and in an increasingly complex environment.