Employees at all levels must be able to communicate appropriately with their teammates. Both verbal and written skills are vital. Emotional intelligence is important because almost everyone‘s success today depends, more or less, on the performance of the whole team.
Emotional intelligence with regards to social media is a new factor that proves to be very important for every company, because the possible damage can be substantial, warns the management.about.com website.
Key risks: Lack of emotional intelligence and social media
Negative comments from employees, whose activities and replies are not controlled by emotional intelligence, can negatively impact on the reputation of your company. Because of there are numerous social media areas where possible errors may go viral the impact is multiplied. On the other hand, the opportunity to immediately broadcast your thoughts and reach many people with your comments and opinions can also help to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. You (or your employees) can even become a thought leader in your field. But there is a dark side to getting instant publicity. One poorly timed Post or Tweet can put you under fire and ruin your reputation. Viral Tweets were the reason why certain people lost their jobs. A small lapse in judgment has the potential to raise pure hell.
New skill: Online self-regulation
A team consisting of workers with strong emotional intelligence can do wonders for your public image. When they contact customers, face-to-face or even text-to-text communication, they become the company to the particular customer. Remember call center calls? One person can handle a conflict and be sympathetic, so you calm down… but another one can get upset and hang up on you. No need to emphasize the difference. Employees with a high degree of EQ react in a way that doesn’t escalate a conflict.
Specific tips on how to develop emotional intelligence are available in our previous articles 6 steps to higher emotional intelligence and Seven "NO-NOs" of emotional intelligence.
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