The Underlying Importance of Emotional Intelligence

The Underlying Importance of Emotional Intelligence Dan Goleman discusses the role of emotional intelligence in customer satisfaction Every company, large or small, has customers. Be it

employees who interact and assist one another on a daily basis

or the person who purchases your product. The ability to truly

connect with customers so they feel important and appreciated requires emotional and social intelligence. Recently,

Dr. Keith Levick had the opportunity to speak with Daniel Goleman, leader, author and expert in the field of emotional

intelligence, to discover how this increasingly important set of skills truly factors into the customer’s experience — positively or negatively.

CCN: Dan, how is it that you became interested in the emotional intelligence field?

DG: I am a psychologist by training and was the science writer for the New York Times.

When the new research was coming in regarding neuroscience and other relevant data about the brain, I knew I needed to

write a book. It was at that time my journey into the field of emotional intelligence began.

CCN: You have been a pioneer in the area of emotional

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intelligence. You have written numerous books on the topic and have linked the importance of emotional intelligence to organizations, schools, marriages — all aspects of life. What is emotional intelligence?

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Dan Goleman

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DG: Emotional intelligence refers to ways we can be intelligent about our emotions: self-awareness, self-management, empathy and social skill.

DG: Because emotions are contagious, how your employees

interact with your customers determines how the customer

an important quality for leaders (and employees)?

be using their emotional intelligence to get and stay in an

DG: Emotional intelligence does not mean being emotional — letting it all out. Quite the contrary — it means being skillful

in the emotional and social realm. With neuroscience finding

that emotions are conta-

gious, and that they flow from the more powerful person outward, leaders

are on the spot: your emotional state is contagious,

will feel about your company. You want your employees to upbeat, empathic space, and to relate to your customers from

that state. In my book, Working With Emotional Intelligence, I reviewed data from the hospitality industry showing that the most effective employees were adept at emotional intelligence

competencies like emotional self-management (curbing negative feelings and encouraging motivation and engagement), empathy (which allows them to sense how others feel, and so

be more effective communicators), and collaboration (so they work seamlessly as team members).

for better or for worse.

CCN: It appears there is a link between the leader’s emo-

CCN: Are you saying

satisfaction?

that employees actually

“catch” the emotions of their leader?

DG: In my book, Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence

tional intelligence and the employee and customer (patient)

DG: Yes, how a leader treats/interacts with the employee can have a direct affect on how the employee services the customer.

– Selected Writings, I discuss the concept of interpersonal limbic

CCN: Then it becomes critically important that leaders know

hormone levels, cardiovascular function and even immune

well as the employee?

regulation, whereby one person transmits signals that can alter function inside the body of another.

As a conversation begins, their bodies each operate at a differ-

ent rhythm. But by the end of a 15-minute conversation, their physiological profiles look remarkably similar — a phenomenon called mirroring. This happens in the office, boardroom,

a restaurant; people in groups at work inevitably “catch” feelings from one another, sharing everything from jealousy and envy to angst or euphoria.

CCN: For a leader to be highly effective, do they need to be aware of their own emotional state?

DG: Leaders who can emanate positive motivation and

and understand how the customer experiences the company as

DG: I also address this issue in Working With Emotional

Intelligence. To shine at service we need to monitor the satisfaction of customers, not waiting to hear complaints but

freely offering information that might be helpful without self-

interest motivating the gesture. This lays the groundwork for a trusting relationship, one where the customer (or coworker)

will feel a positive regard and start to see you as a source of reliable and helpful information — elevating the relationship above one simply of a buyer and a seller.

CCN: So, creating the ultimate customer experience is critical for an organization and its leaders?

enthusiasm for shared goals get the best results. Remember,

DG: How customers feel when they interact with an employee

people.

is lost or strengthened in every interaction between a com-

leadership is the art of getting work done well through other

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the area of customer care?

CCN: Historically, leaders in many organizations discouraged

emotionality in the workplace. Why is emotional intelligence

CCN: Today, more than ever, creating an extraordinary customer experience is critical for an organization’s survival. Can

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you address how emotional intelligence plays a pivotal role in

determines how they feel about the company itself. Loyalty pany and its customers. To paraphrase business maven Peter Drucker, the purpose of business is not to make a sale, but to make and keep a customer. CCN

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