Emotional Intelligence

Social Intelligence: Learning to Navigate through Social Conundrums

[In the role of the staff member I was Kim Hughes, the Marketing Development Manager. Kim had problems because of an unclear deadline. He was also unhappy with one’s of his staff’s attitude and recent behavior. In the role of the boss I was Terry Hepburn, the Director of Operations at Multi Product Manufacturing Company. All names have been changed.]

I chose to write on the class exercise Coaching/Social Intelligence because it contained the maximum learning for me. It also allowed me to fully absorb concepts discussed in class as I reflected upon my thoughts, words and actions during the exercise. I could have fared much better in this exercise had I known some of these concepts beforehand.

Our first meeting was my opportunity to play staff member with Malcolm as my boss. I was pensive when I stepped into his cabin. Malcolm immediately made me comfortable and quickly broached my concerns. I started out by explaining the lack of clarity of a deadline and then ventured into the differences I had with one of my own staff members. Even before I was done talking, Malcolm interrupted me and started suggesting remedies. I felt a little cut-off as I hadn’t completely elaborated my worries. He suggested that I write an email to the vice-president explaining the confusion and how the situation may be rectified. He went on to say that it was my job to deal with my staff and I should be able to manage such small issues on my own. These suggestions weren’t particularly helpful as I was no better off now than I was before the meeting. The onus to resolve my problems was back onto me.

I think Malcolm was hasty in perspective taking and couldn’t really understand the way I felt about my situation. He wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. I learnt from this meeting that it was important to absorb the complete picture and then come up with a conscientious solution. By hurrying for a solution, I...