Emotional intelligence key to success

My sister’s house help is the best she has had in years. She loves my niece and nephew unconditionally, is a great cook and has a good eye for cleanliness and observes good manners.

She is a great worker- so much so that I asked her to refer me to someone she knows who can work as she does but with me at the farm. She did.

His name is Kasengo. She praised his farming skills and ability to take care of fruit trees as impeccable.

Kasengo is charming and was surely given the gift of gab. When I first met him he looked like he was in his late 30s, as he was wearing skinny jeans and a tiny tight T-shirt.

He knew everything I was talking about on farm matters and gave me pointers on how to do stuff I did not know about.

He has had a good taste of life’s years and with his talkative nature is able to catch what people have said to him and will by and large discuss it like he knows of it.

It has taken me a whole year to fully understand him.

Kasengo’s area of cognitive ability which involves traits and social skills that facilitate interpersonal behaviour is quite interesting. He must also be good at some aspects of intelligence that govern his self-knowledge and hence displays amicable social adaptation.

Personal and social competencies

I give him weekly milestones and sometimes ask he does the work under my supervision – he has always opposed and from that I had thought he was definitely a ‘Generation Y.’ Unquestionably, a huge percentage of the current and immediate future labour force is the Generation Y.

It is inclined more on transparency, loyalty and getting over the ‘punch clock’ mentality.

They work well without supervision and give their all when they are given ample breathing space. I was therefore, willing to shift to practices that would accommodate Kasengo.

But alas, Kasengo is almost 60 and is left to a generation that is not his.
To my surprise, Kasengo cannot read. The reason he did not want me to supervise him was because he would need assistance from casual workers or neighbours to read what is written on the numerous bottles from the Agrovet and the instructions in the counter book.

Personal and social competencies are vital for a healthy, productive and sustainable business life. Self-awareness can enhance satisfaction and productivity at work and in other aspects of life.

This can all be wrapped around emotional intelligence (EI) and business.

Since the concept of EI was introduced and the term burst to life in the mid-20th Century, it has been developed, adapted and embraced by the business world and more recently, by academics.

EI skills have been strongly associated with dynamic leadership, satisfying personal life experiences and success in the workplace and thriving business management skills.

It’s been proven to be successful, requires the effective awareness, control and management of one’s own emotions, and those of other people, specifically ones you work with.

With Kasengo, it is hard to comprehend which came first… the cognitive ability to understand and sense one ‘self?’

Or the particular personality style that he found ‘worked’ to get the response, he wanted from his parents, bosses, workmates or caregivers as a youngster? Either way, is it the degree of social or interpersonal intelligence that dictates success in life?

As a leader, one sets the emotional tone others follow and how your business should be run.

The emotional tone that permeates your organisation starts with you as a leader and it depends entirely on your EI.

When employees feel upbeat they will go the extra mile to please customers and work more effectively. Unfortunately, most Kenyan employees almost work better and respect brazen bosses. As if EI is perceived as weakness.

EI seems to be largely learned, and continues to develop as we go through life. If ‘success’ is your key word as an executive, leader or business owner, then one invaluable tool will help you measure and develop success in highly stressful work environments is emotional intelligence. The payoff is always in the results.

Ms Munywoki is a business lecturer at Inoreero University. Email:[email protected]