Role of Emotional Intelligence and Virtual Teams

Role of Emotional Intelligence and Virtual Teams

E motional intelligence is vital in the success of any organization. This is because human beings are rational in their behavior and their productivity is influenced by how they are treated. Management that is people centered increases its productivity because it puts at heart the emotions of its employees which influence their productivity. Organizations capitalistic in nature are only focused on productivity and profitability to some extent may use employees as objects of production and fail to address their emotions towards the jobs they do. Companies like Walmart, Google and Apple have successfully implemented this strategy which has contributed to their enormous growth. These companies move extra miles by reaching out to their employees and finding better ways of helping them. Emotional intelligence is built on five pillars that play different roles in a person’s life (Holt & Wood, 2017). These include self-awareness, which helps one to handle and learn from constructive criticism and not to ignore it, self-regulation or self-management, which enables a person to express his or her feelings with restraint and control his emotions. This helps one to resist the temptation of engaging in unnecessary arguments. Motivation enables one to approach life with optimism and ambition while empathy drives a person towards genuinely attending to other people’s needs and people skill or relationship management drives people towards others, helps enjoy their company, have a peaceful coexistence, and treat them with respect.

            Virtual teams are groups of people who work together for the same organization but from different geographic locations with reliance on communication technology such as email and video conferencing (Holt & Wood, 2017). In order to come up with a successful virtual team, one needs to adopt a few strategies. Developing and using a communication management plan and team operation agreement puts down details on how team members will interact with each other. It also sets ground rules for meetings. Slowing down to speed up involves taking time to learn how things work and what would hinder the seamless performance of the team. Selecting appropriate technology for effectiveness in operations. This could mean selecting high-quality real-time video option that provides a clear view and sound. The team can also create a virtual personality and presence. This enables the company to explore its strengths, weaknesses, and natural tendencies. Another step is running effective virtual team meetings to foster engagement and frequent interactions. Choosing a platform for monitoring should be based on the efficiency and effectiveness. In this case, we need a platform that integrates all types of communication.

Reference

Holt, S. S., & Wood, A. (2017). Leadership and Emotional Intelligence. In Leadership Today (pp. 111-138). Springer International Publishing.