Human Resources: Book Review: Working With Emotional Intelligence

In Working with Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman argues that the success of an organization or a team within a company depends on individuals with qualities like initiative, empathy, adaptability, persuasiveness, trustworthiness, and self-confidence - what he dubs "emotional intelligence" - rather than technical skills, IQ, or experience. Citing 25 years of research and data, he makes the business case for leveraging emotional intelligence, claiming that "companies that leverage this advantage add measurably to their bottom line."

How does emotional intelligence lead to profit? In an age when work is more complex and collaborative, companies in which people work well together (i.e. where people display emotional intelligence) have the competitive edge. "In the new workplace, with its emphasis on flexibility, teams, and a stronger customer orientation, this crucial set of emotional competencies is becoming increasingly essential," says Goleman.

Emotional intelligence isn''t about "being nice." It''s about our "personal competencies" - how we manage ourselves through self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation - and our "social competencies" - how we approach relationships with empathy and social skills.

This isn''t a new concept. Psychologist Reuven Bar-On began researching the field in the mid-1980''s, focusing on emotional quotient profiles which lay out the competencies that characterize star performers in different fields. In 1996, he developed a self-administered test designed to assess specific competencies, which is now often used by companies when they consider new candidates.

Goleman himself, previously a New York Times behavioral- and brain-sciences writer, published his first major work on the subject, Emotional Intelligence, in 1995. It focuses, for the most part, on applying emotional competencies to education. He also developed the "Emotional Competency Inventory," an emotional intelligence test that''s completed by test subjects as well as their bosses, colleagues, and direct reports.

What is new, Goleman claims, is that there is now data to support his conclusions. "We now have 25 years'' worth of empirical studies that tell us with a previously unknown precision just how much emotional intelligence matters for success." He boasts that research has found emotional competencies to be twice as important in contributing to excellence as either IQ or experience.

Besides detailing the job capabilities (initiative, trustworthiness, self confidence) and relationship skills (empathy, leadership, team capabilities) necessary for star performance, Goleman also lays out guidelines for improving one''s emotional intelligence. He offers suggestions for emotional competence training and even recommends a few, like the Managerial Assessment and Development course at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

He notes also that one-size-fits-all training doesn''t work and recommends investing in studies to test the results of whatever training you do, to make sure your investment is effective. "Too often," he says, "the only real effect of training, no matter what it''s for, is that people get a short-term ''buzz'' of energy that lasts no more than a few days or weeks, after which attendees fall back into whatever their habitual mode was before the training."

Of course, you can''t expect to turn on the emotional intelligence of your organization at the flip of a switch. Goleman does claim, however, that his book provides "sound guidelines for the real work of becoming more emotionally competent." And since emotional intelligence is learned behavior, there is hope for just about any organization and just about any individual.

What''s really important is not going overboard on emotional intelligence training all at once (he recommends stretching it out), but reinforcing to employees your organization''s values and mission. While you''re promoting emotional intelligence through training, you also should create an atmosphere that "rewards and even celebrates such self-improvement." And don''t worry about the cost of good training, he says, because when it works, the training quickly pays for itself - usually within a year.

The highlight of the book is its last section, "The Emotionally Intelligent Organization." Goleman explains what it means for an organization to be emotionally intelligent and demonstrates how it improves business performance and makes an organization a desirable place to work. "An organization''s collective level of emotional intelligence, he says, "determines the degree to which that organization''s intellectual capital is realized - and so, it''s overall performance."

The last section also profiles Egon Zehnder International, a global executive search firm, to demonstrate the effectiveness of seamless collaboration that results from an emotionally intelligent organization. There''s an extraordinary level of cooperation, open communication, and teamwork at Egon Zehnder. "[The search firm''s] very business, finding the right person for a company, demands skill at empathy, intuitive accuracy, and organizational awareness," Goleman notes. In other words, emotional intelligence is essential. The team approach has paid off for Egon Zehnder, which is, according to the book, the most profitable search firm per capita in the world and 60 percent more productive than the industry average.

The key to Zehnder''s success? The firm''s incredibly selective hiring practices ensure that only the most promising candidates-the most emotionally intelligent candidates-are on its team. Those with the right background are interviewed by at least twenty, and up to forty, of the firm''s partners. Principal hiring criteria are based on personal qualities. Prospective hires are evaluated on competencies like teamwork, self-confidence, empathy, listening skills, maturity, integrity, good judgment, common sense, imagination, sense of humor, and leadership potential; and they also are expected to demonstrate other qualities of a good friend, colleague, and partner.

But besides the more detailed case studies provided at the end of the book, including that of Egon Zehnder International, the examples Goleman offers don''t really tell readers much beyond what to do in a handful of specific situations. He lays out a scene for readers - a customer in a store who gets upset with the staff and stomps out, an executive giving a speech to which no one is listening - and explains why things went well or poorly because of a specific emotional competency or lack thereof, but rarely gets beyond the specifics to the principles of applying emotional intelligence.

And if you''re below a certain level in your organization - say director or the equivalent - the book, which focuses much more on those at an operation''s higher levels, may not address any of your day-to-day issues. While he recognizes that change is coming, and that business is becoming less hierarchical, Goleman still draws a clear distinction between the competencies those higher up in a firm must have and those needed by employees at the bottom of the organizational pole. He notes that some competencies necessary for those at the top have a negative effect when applied at the bottom of an organization. What ever happened to the idea that teamwork and personal skills are important for everyone, and that everyone contributes to the success of the firm? Why wouldn''t equal levels of emotional intelligence be demanded across an organization?

Bottom line: Goleman does a superb job explaining emotional intelligence, stressing its importance in today''s business world, and backing it up with research. He also provides good guidelines for emotional intelligence training. However, he overlooks the importance of fostering emotional intelligence at all levels of an organization, which seems to undermine his argument. And his work would certainly benefit from broader, rather than issue-specific, examples that reveal how companies that encourage and foster emotional intelligence have improved productivity, employee retention, and performance.