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
Fall 2012
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?
www.customercarenews.com
Dan Goleman
25
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
Fall 2012
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
26
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
Customer Care News