Retaining Employees
Why Emotional Intelligence is Important
Written by Chukwuma Asala for Gaebler Ventures
What role does emotional intelligence play in retention? What are the things you can do to make this work to your advantage to have a thoroughbred company?
Retaining good talented employees is one of the toughest tasks in running an organization.
Retention has a lot to do with the morale of the employees, the work environment, relationships they have with each other, whether or not they feel challenged, etc. A big factor that plays a role in all these things is emotional intelligence.
It's likely that emotional intelligence is going to continue to become even more important in the business world in the future than it is today. As a manager or leader of a team you have to have the highest level of emotional intelligence possible. There are a number of reasons for this.
As the baby boomer population approaches retirement age, companies are going to find themselves dealing with more labor shortages the likes of which have never been seen before. The economy has improved slightly over the last year but employees are still a company's biggest expense, especially if they aren't good employees. This is making it increasingly important to hold on to good quality employees. At the same time, competition for the best employees is going to become even tougher because of the high demand, and good workers who feel they aren't treated fairly at work will have an easy time finding employment elsewhere.
The best way to hold on to the employees that you want to keep is to incorporate emotional intelligence into your personal and organizational management culture. Managers and business owners can't let themselves lose sight of the fact that their employees are real, with real lives and emotions that impact how they think, feel, and act during their work hours. Managers with emotional intelligence understand that their staff members are people first and workers second. The importance of building relationships cannot be overshadowed as well. Emotional Intelligence has a lot to do with trust. You are more likely to treat your friends with respect than you are your coworkers, so make an effort to get to know your staff on a deeper more personal level.
Another important point about emotional intelligence and retention is that most people will stay with a boss or employer that is consistent. Emotional intelligence will help you stay buoyant no matter what situations may arise at work. If your people come to understand that no matter how crazy things seem to be at the office that you are always going to have a balanced demeanor and ease in which you deal with challenges, they will respect you and trust you tremendously and this will give them some security.
Chukwuma Asala is an international student from Nigeria who is studying to earn an MBA from the State University of New York in Albany. He has analyzed more than 20 industry case studies throughout his education thus far, and hopes to bring some of his business knowledge to Gaebler.com.
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