Recently during some well deserved "down-time," my wife and I watched the 1998 movie, "Sphere," starring Dustin Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson. The movie, based on a Michael Crichton novel regarding the discovery of a 300 year-old spaceship carrying an immensely powerful form of intelligent life, at numerous points put's Hoffman's character (Psychologist Norman Goodman) into conversation with an extra-terrestrial named "Jerry." What was particularly interesting to me while viewing this film was that during the first dialogue between Norman and ET Jerry, Jerry stated that "he was happy." To the surprise of his fellow scientific discoverers (Samuel L. Jackson, et al), this seemingly innocuous statement was met by psychologist Norman with great dismay and alarm. Norman would go on to explain that he had hoped that ET Jerry be a rational being of pure logic rather than an emotional one, further explaining that if ET Jerry is happy now what happens when he gets mad.
As a facilitator and coach who spends the majority of each week standing in front of groups, I can empathize with Norman Goodman's desire for a less emotionally charged working environment. I am sure that most people would agree that emotions not only cause life to be rich and wonderful, they can also cause human interaction to be messy and tumultuous (especially in the workplace). So, I like most others, have accepted long ago that my Norman-like desire in those moments, primarily driven by the subjective and unexpected nature of emotions versus the objective and controllable nature of pure logic, will never fully come to fruition because human beings are innately emotional. It is the acceptance of this realization in the workplace that has lead me to this weeks blog topic, getting familiar with the research foundational to the field of Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence, or EI, is a field of research and study that compiles various psychological and biological theories surrounding emotional awareness and control. The central construct of this field is comprised of streams of research from scientists and researchers ranging from Darwin to Daniel Goleman. Two researchers most notable for their work here are Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer. These two leading researchers in the field, according to Kendra Van Wagner, define Emotional Intelligence, In their 1990 article named "Emotional Intelligence,” as, “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions.”
Today, Daniel Goleman is the researcher most commonly associated with the application of EI to normal everyday life in the workplace. According to various themes of online research, the EI model introduced by Goleman includes a wide array of competencies and skills that drive leadership performance. Goleman's model outlines the following four EI constructs: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. Within these four constructs, Goleman offers various competencies and recommended approaches to increase our emotional self-understanding and, subsequently, gain increased focus and command over our emotional expression.
Additional theories of Emotional Intelligence offer great potential for improving contemporary workforce environments. Two of these theories are A) The Bar-On Model of Emotional-Social Intelligence developed by Reuven Bar-On and; B) The Trait EI model developed by Dr. K. V. Petrides and associates. As with Goleman's, both of these theories are built on models validated by peer-reviewed research within the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations and both offer validated and reliable psychometric assessments for individual and group testing, known as the Bar-On EQi and the The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) respectively.
The field of Emotional Intelligence has become a formidable body of research and practice that can help leaders in most workforce environments improve interpersonal effectiveness. In my next blog post I'll discuss how these theories can be put to work.
Comments