Awareness matters...

When Covid-19 started, my partner and I began taping podcasts about the new and unique issues that managers were having to deal with. More and more they were about the emotional well-being of employees who were being furloughed, or working from home, or being recalled to work. These issues were the kind that managers rarely had to deal with before, and when they did it was mostly to refer employees with them to the company’s employee assistance program. The more we talked about these issues, the more people wanted to learn, and we started framing these presentations in the context of Emotional Intelligence. While this topic is often connected to the use of empathy as a leadership tool, it goes much farther than that: being able to recognize the range of emotions exhibited by employees helps leaders focus on how to respond.  The seeds we planted in those early podcasts led us to a group of scientists and business consultants in Europe and we decided to conduct a symposium on why Emotional Intelligence is one of the most important tools for managers to use in this post-pandemic period. As employee needs change, leaders in businesses big and small must learn more and adapt their styles and focus: what you do today has a great impact on employees now and well into the future. Growing your leadership awareness is one of the most important things you can do today.

 

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894): Scottish novelist, essayist, poet, and travel writer, most noted for writing Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde