Emotional intelligence is a vital characteristic of the quality of human interactions. That is why there is a multitude of research on the importance of emotional intelligence in nurses and academic staff. Simultaneously, private organizations need quality relations, just like organizations in the public sector (Lopes, 2016). As noted in the Case Study, FedEx is a large organization with many departments and employees who need good management. Numerous studies emphasize the paramount importance of emotional intelligence when interacting with clients, such as in the nurse-patient interaction. Therefore, FedEx management assumed that the manager-employee relationship could also benefit from emotional intelligence in managers. Frontline employees’ emotional intelligence is essential, but since managers are responsible for the whole team’s success, their training at FedEx was probably considered to deserve the utmost attention.
The company leaders decided that, although some managers have innate emotional intelligence, this quality can be taught. A five-day course and a six-month follow-up coaching process have been developed for management training. This program allows identifying the strengths of new managers and developing particular skills of emotional intelligence. It can be assumed that the program’s content was developed based on emotional intelligence practices for future psychotherapists since, for clinicians, this skill is the most important professional quality.
In addition to the five-day in-person courses followed by the six months of online follow-up, FedEx could also implement emotional intelligence courses with twice-a-week class attendance. In this way, emotional intelligence training could become a new hobby for managers, like painting, French lessons, or drama. Besides, sessions could be organized in an interactive format so that participants could practice various psychological techniques with each other. Such an approach will help unite the management team and ensure that the knowledge about emotional intelligence that managers receive in the courses will be well assimilated and applied in practice.
There could also be some educational lectures on the nature of emotional intelligence. Besides, since the company already has a practice of filling out questionnaires on employee satisfaction with managers’ work, a question on the manifestation of emotional intelligence qualities could be added to these surveys. Managers could be rewarded with bonuses in the form of earnings or material incentives for improved performance. Besides, to introduce relationships enriched with quality emotional communication in the whole organization, top managers and other senior leaders should practice the relevant psychological techniques. The expression of emotions and opinions should also be encouraged at all levels within reasonable limits, and not suppressed by labor discipline. A supportive environment can be created to indirectly reinforce the mindset about the importance of emotions and emotional intelligence. This may be achieved by changing the interior and creating lounges where employees can communicate in an informal setting.
Implementing the complex listed measures will undoubtedly lead to an improvement in the quality of interaction between managers and employees. It is highly important since successful leadership is the key to increased productivity, job satisfaction, and organizational justice. Moreover, the introduction of relationships based on trust, attentive attitude to the interlocutor’s emotions, and controlling own emotions will allow ordinary employees to become more focused and sensitive to consumers’ interests and provide high-quality services. Thus, training managers in emotional intelligence at FedEx will lead to a positive company image, increased consumer confidence, and as a result, improved productivity and profitability.
References
Lopes, P. N. (2016). Emotional intelligence in organizations: Bridging research and practice. Emotion Review, 8(4), 316-321.