The importance of emotional intelligence in IT companies

If you appreciate an inspiring essay like emotional intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman and the author's subsequent works at the level of dissemination of the concept of emotional intelligence on the web, one may be led to think that it is possible to learn and improve one's emotional intelligence to become a successful leader or worker. In reality this is only partially true.

The fundamental assumption of cognitive-behavioral orientation psychology is that by changing one's behaviors and habits through the performance of specific tasks one can also change one's mental status.

This approach proves to be very effective for the treatment of pathologies related to one's lifestyle, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, phobias, neuroses, etc. Interaction with other people is undoubtedly improved through a progressive change in behavior and an increase in one's social skills.

However, as the history of psychology teaches us, no system is perfect and immune to failure. The approach based on emotional intelligence is in fact immediately put to the test already in the first interview between the coach and the subject. In general, many people take a relatively long time to trust the coach and carry out the tasks assigned to them. This is partly due to the mental resistance that each of us opposes in the face of change and to the real motivation behind the choice to embark on this path.

For example, if a team leader is forced by the company to have these interviews, his motivation will be very low. Conversely, if the same team leader suspects that his way of relating to team members is wrong and spontaneously adheres to this path, his motivation will be greater and better results will be achieved.

There must therefore not be an external force that requires a company to focus on the development of emotional intelligence. Rather you should be aware of its importance and you should consult an expert when you notice a drop in productivity on the part of the team or episodes related to an excessive stress load (nervousness, quarrels, etc.).

And it's not just the leaders: even if a company has an empathetic, helpful and positive team leader, one could find team members whose social and relational skills are so limited as to make the leader's job emotionally and difficult. human.

This happens because very often in the selection of employees only technical skills are taken into account and very little relational and behavioral ones. In doing so, one runs the risk of including employees in a team who, although technically gifted, can create problems both for the other team members and for the leader himself.

Ultimately, a company operating in the IT sector must consider emotional intelligence as an evaluation criterion of its employees just as important as the technical one. In this way it is possible to solve upstream those problems related to productivity that cannot be explained by the mere lack of technical know-how.