Emotional Intelligence: Lessons learnt in hospitality - Part 1
The work environment in the hospitality industry can be brutal; extended working hours, excessive workload, and poor remuneration. Hospitality staffs, particularly those at the front of house are expected to face customers with a smile and show friendliness - even when confronted by difficult and demanding customers.
Notwithstanding this, operators in the hospitality industry heavily rely on the delivery of good service standards accompanied by the thoughtfulness of their staff. For that reason, managers need to ensure that their employees - particularly customer-facing staff, are interacting with them in the best possible way.
Because of the nature of this field where human interaction is vital, emotional intelligence will be a vital game changer in hospitality management. This can happen only when managers themselves, unlock the key to emotional intelligence and become very ‘self aware’ themselves.
Abraham Maslow, the renowned psychologist made a very point when he said, “whereas the average individuals often have not the slightest idea of what they are, of what they want, of what their own opinions are, self-actualizing individuals have superior awareness of their own impulses, desires, opinions and subjective reactions in general.”
Dr Travis Bradberry, who wrote Emotional Intelligence 2.0, lists self-awareness as one of the core components of emotional intelligence. He defines emotional intelligence as “one’s ability to recognise and understand emotions in oneself and others, and one’s ability to use that awareness to manage one’s behaviour and relationships.”It’s about knowing yourself. What is the single constant factor in all your attempts to achieve your goals? You! Hence understanding yourself is number one..
The term ‘emotional intelligence' (EQ) was popularized by the psychologist, Daniel Goleman, who has stated that self-awareness is the cornerstone of EQ and without it, individuals have little chance of demonstrating other competencies, such as empathy and adaptability, which are crucial to the hotel industry.
Simply expressed, emotional Intelligence also referred to as emotional quotient (EQ) and sometimes called emotional intelligence quotient, can be described as the individual’s ability to both recognise their own emotions as well as those of another (others). That ability must go beyond – i.e. to differentiate and pin-point feelings correctly, to use this emotional data to then guide thinking and proper behavior, and importantly manage one’s emotions so that they help achieve one’s goals, without becoming an obstacle. The key words are self-awareness, empathy and behaviour.
Whenever a guest wanted to speak to someone in management, and, if it happened to be me, I’ve frequently had staff that conveyed the guest’s message tell me: “…by the way, she/he is a very difficult guest.” or “dealing with these people (nationality) is always difficult.”
At the beginning, I allowed myself to form an instant opinion and succumbed to ‘confirmation bias’- before even having met the guest in question. What this did was to steer my emotions towards gathering evidence that supported that opinion, and, to ignore any evidence to the contrary. Outwardly I had mastered the art of showing empathy; my emotions however sent my decision-making into turmoil, provoking me to inwardly think, “How can I put this guest down?” And never mind if the guest was right.
After working for some time, I soon realised that when dealing with a person, particularly a disgruntled guest, I must not allow any prior negative comments I hear about the guest to colour my assessment of the actual situation. I began focusing on something positive when in a negative situation and learnt to deal with emotional triggers such as anger and prejudice.
Lesson learned: As a manager or supervisor, one is required to maintain emotional control especially while defusing the situation - be it with a guest or an employee. Interestingly, Goleman indicated that EQ or EI increases with age and maturity, and that it varies amongst those whose tenure in the industry is short and those who have worked for long. Essentially, emotional Insight into-self, increased at each level of length of time, spent in the industry.
To be continued
Ilzaf Keefahs is a freelance writer who enjoys focusing on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike. He delves into the heart of hospitality to figure out both customer service and consumer trends that impact the industry.
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