Emotional intelligence is crucial in times of economic decline and layoffs. Managers need emotional intelligence to cope with the dissatisfaction of employees. Employees need emotional intelligence to cope with their stresses of increased workloads, sad feelings for those forced to leave, and fear for their own future. Everyone needs emotional intelligence to cope with all the change that occurs.

In times of economic downturn, leaders redesign their organizations. They institute changes to promote productivity and cut costs. Change naturally provokes fears. In times of downturn, fears are all the greater. People worry, “Will I survive the layoffs? How much harder will my work become as I pick up the slack of fired employees and managers? How much will changes disrupt my own work and approach? Will I be overwhelmed or able to change enough to survive emotionally?”

Part of emotional intelligence is the ability to handle our own feelings, our fears, sense of overwhelm, and resentments. We need self-awareness to get clear about our feelings and then we need the ability to face them squarely and have self-acceptance. For example, if we are scared, it is best to fully acknowledge that to ourselves.

Then we need the emotional skill and self-confidence to change if necessary to cope with organizational changes and new challenges. Maybe we must work faster to handle a greater workload or interact with more people than before the changes.

Of course, in times of change we need interpersonal skills more than ever. Leaders must facilitate more communication to help people cope. It helps to provide people a safe place to vent their feelings of frustration and overwhelm, and sadness about those who have been forced to leave. It helps to facilitate communication to make the new organizational structures work. New people and groups have to learn what is important to the other group. What does it take to get along and be productive?

How can you improve your emotional intelligence and reap these benefits? You can continue to read these short articles that I write weekly. That gives you suggestions. Then what you need is a way to learn new skills and practice them. That is available to you in my Virtual-Workshop, Leadership Communication™ and in my individual Executive Coaching.