The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Nigerian Workplaces

If you want to be highly productive, you need Emotional Intelligence. Whether you’re an employee, an entrepreneur, or a top professional, working towards being productive in all areas is a sure ticket to your career or entrepreneurship growth. This is one of the reasons monthly, quarterly, or yearly reports exist—to track your success.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is rated as one of those skills that can make a workplace or business flourish and succeed. Without emotional intelligence in the workplace, that business or organization might take a hit.

In this 4-minute read, you’ll find out how emotional intelligence skills can affect your workflow and the importance of showing emotional intelligence at work.

Table of Contents

Understanding the Concept of Emotional intelligence (EI)

Emotional intelligence (EI) as a skill is becoming increasingly important in Nigerian workplaces and around the world, where different backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs meet. EI is important for teamwork, collaboration, the company’s success, and peaceful co-working relationships.

Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to discern, understand, handle, and successfully express one’s emotions, as well as the feelings of other people. EI is a soft skill comprising several elements, some of which are self-awareness, self-control, compassion, and social skills.

People with high EI can establish solid relationships, handle confrontations or disagreements in workplaces, and thrive in the different environments wherein they find themselves.

Compared to hard or technical skills, emotional intelligence (EI) is a soft skill that promotes effective workplace communication, conflict resolution, problem-solving, teamwork, team management, and good leadership.

The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Nigerian Workplaces

It is impossible to overemphasize the value of emotional intelligence in Nigerian workplaces. Emotional intelligence is essential for success, healthy work relationships, and overall mental health in Nigeria’s fast-paced, diverse workplace.

Display of Emotional intelligence skills makes a happy workplace

Here are key reasons why emotional intelligence skills are important to adopt in workplaces, regardless of your position;

EI significantly improves team dynamics, collaboration, work relationships, leadership effectiveness, and individual performance.

EI helps you effectively handle pressure and stress, make reasonable decisions, and keep your spirits up, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction.

Emotional intelligence fosters compassion, understanding, great communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution, which creates a peaceful workplace that encourages teamwork.

Leaders with high emotional intelligence (EI) qualities encourage and fire up their groups, encourage creativity, trust, and self-confidence, and face issues head-on.

Team members with EI skills are likely to work together more effectively even with tight deadlines, build stronger bonds, and solve problems more smoothly.

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Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Individual Performance

Considering the stressful situation of the economy, showing emotional intelligence at your workplace is just as crucial as completing your tasks.

Within Nigerian workplaces, emotional intelligence (EI) tremendously impacts every individual’s performance. Thus, this influences how employees deal with challenges, conflict, confrontations, and disagreements, collaborate with coworkers, and support the success of the organization.

Team members discussing about a project

Think of it this way: you and a colleague in an IT department at an organization—are working on a project with a tight deadline. Then, tension arises because of different perspectives on the project’s strategy. Because of your emotional intelligence skills, you handle the argument with professionalism.

Actively hearing what the other person has to say, understanding their concerns, and respecting your colleague’s expertise while politely and clearly expressing your ideas and showing empathy and patience.

By taking this approach, you will create a win-win situation that will enable you and your colleague to move the project forward easily, which promotes productivity. Also, improving your working connection with colleagues will boost teamwork and project outcomes.

Now, what if you did the opposite, and it went sideways? Arguments occur when there is no emotional intelligence. Perhaps both sides lacked emotional intelligence skills—acting defensively and hostile or dismissive towards each other’s ideas.

Like adding gasoline to an open fire, this will intensify already existing tension and frustrate productive teamwork, causing the project and your workflow to move at a slower pace.

Read also: How Healthy Conflict Can Boost Business Growth.

Effect of EI on Team dynamics and Team management

Narrowing emotional intelligence (EI) in a workplace down to the teams, EI significantly impacts team management and dynamics. Team members with high EI have better member collaboration, empathy, and communication, creating a more unified and productive working atmosphere.

Strong emotional intelligence (EI) abilities also enable team leaders to resolve issues amicably, motivate their colleagues, and create a climate that promotes self-confidence and trust. All these qualities eventually improve teamwork and accomplish the organization’s goals.

Ever heard the saying, teamwork makes the dream work? You also need EI skills to make the dream work, whether you’re the team lead or a team member.

Imagine an entire team within an organization tackling a big project with a short deadline. The team lead observes that one of the team members appears overworked and stressed. Using EI, the team lead approaches the team members with understanding and motivates them—rather than ignoring the situation. They actively listen to the worries, offer support, and work together to find answers.

Employees working together happily

In turn, the stressed team member experiences a sense of validation and motivation, which boosts team spirit, boosts output, and ensures the project is successfully finished. This shows how emotional intelligence can positively impact team relationships and management in Nigerian companies.

Applying emotional intelligence (EI) to team management techniques is essential in Nigerian organizations to foster leadership, strategic thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, and collaboration.

In today’s competitive and dynamic business environment, teams can harness the power of emotional intelligence at workplaces to get around issues, adjust to change, and attain success over the long run—by putting first EI skills development through training programs, establishing an emotional intelligence culture, and promoting open communication and constructive feedback.

Read also: Creativity and Innovation in Business: Benefits and Ways Leaders Can Enhance Them.

Conclusion

To wrap it up, emotional intelligence (EI) is not a buzzword or catchphrase. EI is a vital soft skill that significantly influences employee performance, team dynamics, collaboration, and leadership effectiveness.

Organizations may improve teamwork, solve problems more effectively, provide a happy work atmosphere, and ultimately succeed in today’s competitive business landscape by developing employees’ and leaders’ emotional intelligence skills.

Therefore, building resilient, high-performing teams and fostering an EI-focused culture is crucial for promoting long-term growth and success in Nigerian workplaces, as is funding EI development through training initiatives and other team bonding activities.

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Edited by Oluwanifemi Akintomide.

About Author

Precious Nwakuba

I'm a Copywriter and Content Strategist with about 3 years of experience. Blending creativity with research, my skills are a tool to make your content engaging and relatable to your target audience, inspiring them to love you even more.
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