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institutions’ reputation in the market, attract new business and foster repeat business, where current students decide to stay on at that University and continue studying at a higher level.
Emotional intelligence in employees – nature or nurture?
Whilst I accept that there are some behaviours, or responses that look like behaviours, that you can coach staff to exhibit in certain situations, I have to say that I sit firmly in the “nature” camp on this one. From what I have observed over the years, a person either has a high EI capability or they haven’t and the difference it makes when employing staff in customer facing roles where talking to people is the main component of the job, is huge. A person’s attitude and behaviour in particular situations is influenced by their own life experiences and so at City University London we have taken the view that if we employ customer-facing staff who have high EI capability in the first place, then we are already a long way towards providing excellent customer service, even before we’ve started training new staff in our systems and processes.
A decade on from its birth, emotional intelligence is attracting more attention than ever before. Why? Because of its proven connection to performance. Tomorrow′s leaders will have to be facilitators who work collaboratively to help others develop their potential, and this will require emotionally intelligent skills and attitudes. Tim Sparrow and Amanda Knight stress that EI isn′t a synonym for personality; it′s about managing personality. That′s why knowing how to put EI into practice is essential. Anyone interested in performance improvement today needs to be interested in emotional intelligence. Applied EI shows how our attitudes underpin our EI, explores how to develop emotionally intelligence attitudes, and lays out tactics for applying them in practice.
Recommended Reading
'Applied EI' by Tim Sparrow & Amanda Knight