Emotional Intelligence

The word emotional means something which is related to your emotions while the word
intelligence means the ability to perceive something correctly. Emotional intelligence is the
ability to recognize and manage your own emotions as well as to understand and influence
the emotions of the people around you.
It is also known as the emotional quotient. Emotional intelligence enables you to be
successful in maintaining your relationships, succeed at school and work and achieve your
goals.
Emotional intelligence contains these elements:

1. Self-Management:
You're able to control impulsive feelings and behaviours, manage your emotions in
healthy ways, take initiative, follow through on commitments, and adapt to changing
circumstances.
2. Self-Awareness:
You recognize your own emotions and how they affect your thoughts and behavior.
You know your strengths and weaknesses and have self-confidence.
3. Social Awareness:
You have empathy. You can understand the emotions, needs, and concerns of other
people, pick up on emotional cues, feel comfortable socially, and recognize the power
dynamics in a group or organization.
4. Relationship Management
You know how to develop and maintain good relationships, communicate clearly,
inspire and influence others, work well in a team, and manage conflict.

Example of Emotional Intelligence

Airline Sector
Having high emotional intelligence is a major requirement when you are applying for a job in
the airline sector. For example, a pilot and flight attendants are required to have high
emotional intelligence and patience to effectively do their jobs.

Pilots:
A qualified pilot must be able to manage emotions, calculate the risk accurately and work
together with other crew members throughout the flight. In order to accomplish this, they
must have teamwork skills, strong mental and emotional fortitude as well as the ability to
operate as a cohesive team over prolonged flights, collaborating to accomplish tasks in
complex and stressful environments.
When research was conducted on the emotional intelligence of American pilots, it was found
that they got high extraversion scores (particularly in areas such as assertiveness, activity, and
excitement seeking) when compared to other people. Pilots also scored lower on neuroticism
than non-pilot peers, indicating an ability to handle fear, anxiety, and stress.
Another study was conducted on the emotional intelligence and personality type of Indian
military pilots. The study concluded that the pilots perceive themselves to have a more than
average level of trait emotional intelligence. Most of them were extroverts and were greater
on the sensing dimension as compared to the intuition dimension. They belonged in the
categories of thinking and judging individuals as opposed to feeling and perceiving
individuals.

Flight Attendants:
Flight attendants are also required to have high emotional intelligence, good manners, and
patience as they directly deal with passengers. They are responsible for greeting the
customers with a smile, guiding them to their seats, answering their queries, getting them
comfortable, and tending to their needs for example giving them a cup of tea. In case of an
emergency, they are responsible for calming them down and instructing them to wear their
oxygen masks. All these tasks require high emotional control, patience, tolerance and ability
to manage stress effectively.
According to a study on preflight attendants’ emotional intelligence and emotional labor. The
higher their emotional intelligence was, the better the performance of such attendants. The
better pre-flight attendants understand their emotions and use them appropriately, the more
they convert their negative feelings to desirable emotions required for effective in-flight
customer service. A flight attendant is not just only required to follow the protocols but he or
she must be able to empathize with the customers and try to solve their problems. They
should be able to handle criticism and must not engage the customers in a rude and loud tone.
According to another research on flight attendants’ emotional intelligence in the Covid-19
era, it was found that majority of them were in a dilemma as flights were being canceled and
delayed. The cancellation of the flights meant that they would earn less money. Some of them
were even laid off by their companies in order to reduce unnecessary costs. However, the
attendants possessing high levels of emotional intelligence were able to maintain their morale
in this uncertain situation. They were able to find alternative forms of work in order to
provide for their families and not go into depression.
References:
 https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/emotional-intelligence-in-
leadership#:~:text=Emotional%20intelligence%20is%20defined%20as,popularized
%20by%20psychologist%20Daniel%20Goleman.
 https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/emotional-intelligence-eq.htm
 https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-emotional-intelligence-2795423
 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18868-4#:~:text=Accomplished
%20pilots%20must%20be%20able,ability%20to%20operate%20as
%20crewmembers.
 https://indjaerospacemed.com/a-study-on-trait-emotional-intelligence-and-
personality-type-of-indian-miliary-pilots-a-preliminary-study/
 https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2021/20/
e3sconf_emmft2020_11019.pdf
 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11628-015-0273-2