Emotional intelligence tops management list
A caring and nurturing form of managing people is the task that Cindy Squair’s company, Circle&square, specialises in.
“The post-pandemic period is a time for reflection, but one thing is sure – businesses have an amazing opportunity to reshape the future.
C&S equips leaders and teams to be resilient in times of disruption and to channel change positively. The company brings managers and staff together by giving leaders the skills to lead, both other people and themselves.
“Through applied psychology, we equip leaders and teams to be resilient in times of disruption and to channel change positively.”
She said emotional intelligence (EQ) was rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after attributes of successful managers.
Managers must realise that workers are also people and customers, is a piece of wisdom she took from Simon Sinek.
Managers must know what they know – but they must also be able to concede that they don’t know everything, says Squair.
They must have the ability to ask the right questions, and to put themselves in other people’s shoes by trying to understand what they are thinking.
In the new world of working from home or working remotely, disconnection among the company’s staff is accelerating. It is also undermining people’s resilience, and it is up to the leaders of the group to restore this understanding and empathy.
Thapelo Lakaje, vice-president of Mercedes-benz SA’S East London plant and human resources specialist, said even while the pandemic had changed everything about the world of work, it was “just the start” (for management).
He believes that SA’S diversity, spread over a range of generations, will create the need for management to raise their EQ skills, their active listening powers and their mastery of humility.
He said a Gallup survey of workers showed that when they left a company, the most common reason was not the organisation’s shortfalls – it was that they were dissatisfied with their direct supervisor or line manager.
Employees need diverse sources of stimulation, not so much for motivation – an externally driven event – but inspiration, which they get from a positive work climate. The ultimate aim is passion.
He recalled when the company built a special car for the late president Nelson Mandela.
“The workers contributed their time for nothing. That is passion.”
When the last of the C-class (one of Mercedes-benz’s most successful cars ever) rolled off the production line in May 2021, the workers started to sing, of their own accord. The event was filmed and it went viral throughout the international company.
The SA manufacturer was bombarded with questions from sister companies around the world as to how they managed it, Lakaje said.
It wasn’t managed at all. It was an outbreak of passion.