Emotional Intelligence became a new term in psychology
and a hot topic in academic circles over 10 years ago.
The works of Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence and Working
with Emotional Intelligence) brought forward the idea that
a person’s emotional intelligence has a larger role
to play than his or her IQ in achieving career success and
overall well being. But how does this work in IT (Information
Technology) – a field perceived to be mainly IQ-oriented
territory?
The impact of emotional intelligence on IT workers is an
under-researched topic, with the notable exception of the
work of Eugene Kaluzniacky, a Canadian researcher at the
University of Manitoba. As Kaluzniacky points out in his
2004 book, Managing Psychological Factors in Information
Systems Work, a statistically significant percentage
of IT workers belong to the so-called ISTJ personality type:
introverted
(as opposed to extroverted), sensing (as opposed to intuitive),
thinking (as opposed to feeling) and judging (as opposed
to perceiving).
Yet the nature of IT work has changed a lot since the days
when most IT workers were dedicated primarily to technical
and operational tasks. IT today is a global, networked environment
that requires adept communication with people both
face to face and through technological platforms.
The evolving state of the industry can bring emotional problems
for IT workers. These problems often go undetected and unacknowledged
until they surface eventually as stress. Burnout is known
to plague the profession, especially in the later years.
Defining Emotional
Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is the awareness of one’s feelings,
the ability to deal with these feelings in a constructive
manner, and the ability to be empathetic, adaptable to change
and optimistic. These qualities enable an individual to deal
with pressure, stress and uncertainly in the workplace. In
contrast to this, the characteristics and values of many
IT workers are defined as: the need for structure, the idea
of being in control and the sense of one’s professional
competency. These values are challenged today by the constant
changes in technology and means of which we do business.
In the IT industry, Emotional Intelligence competencies
such as listening, persuasion or influencing are self-evident
in the areas of analysis, management and sales. Yet on a
personal level, emotions play a large role in the core technical
positions as well. Feelings of frustration and anger become
very strong at times in these positions (the familiar stereotype
of a programmer banging repeatedly at a key when the computer
refuses to perform according to his or her expectations easily
comes to mind…).
IT workers in helpdesk positions will find emotional intelligence
skills useful. These workers need to be equipped with the
ability to handle frustrated, clueless or angry callers before
they can tackle the technical trouble. IT support workers
who have to respond to cascading crises and fix urgent application
or hardware problems must also have a great deal of control
over their emotions in order to be able to do their job.
Panic is not an enabler and the truth is that no-one is able
to perform those roles once they are in a panic, even if
they posses the required technical skills.
Hidden Costs
The cost of Emotional Intelligence mishaps is not often recognized,
although it impacts an organization’s bottom line
through missed deadlines, lost opportunities and system
failures or conflicts in the workplace. It is also a very
well known
fact in IT that the vast majority of project failures are
not due to technical problems but to human problems. All
of these problems could be minimized by paying attention
to solutions, which apply to emotional intelligence. One
particular area of interest is doing a thorough psychological
profile of IT workers to match them to the appropriate
type of IT work.
Despite abundant evidence, there is currently little preoccupation
with how emotional intelligence skills can help IT workers.
The recent downturn in the field did not help, and there
are
not many signs that emotional intelligence is becoming a
major centre of research or a preoccupation for IT managers.
It is true, however, that soft-skills in the IT industry
are gaining visible recognition. This is a good starting
point for a voyage of self-discovery and will go a long way
towards an emotionally rewarding career in the IT industry.
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