In his landmark work on Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence, Bantam, 1995) taught us that emotions are critical as a “signal system” and that emotional intelligence (EI) is a process of learning to be aware of and to regulate our emotions. Goleman’s research demonstrated that emotional intelligence is more important than IQ as a factor contributing to individual performance excellence. He showed that EI accounts for as much as 70% of individual performance whereas cognitive ability and technical learning account for only 30%.

In his new book 3-D Chess: Boosting Team Productivity Through Emotional Intelligence, Steve Barth points out that most research to date has focused on one-on-one relationships. Emerging research and EI theory involves the application of EI principles to catalyze the productivity of teams. Basically, an effective team must know how to play the EI equivalent of three-dimensional chess. “It must be mindful of the emotions of its members, its own group emotions or moods, and the emotions of other groups and individuals outside its boundaries,” said Barth.

To achieve team emotional intelligence, there are three critical ingredients:

• Trust: reciprocal care and concern
• Group Identity: joint ownership of goals & roles
• Group Efficacy: commitment to teamwork and confidence in their ability as a team

Managing an organization requires leveraging individual strengths through the synergy of teams. The lesson we can learn from Steve Barth’s thesis is that our teams must have multi-dimensional vision. No longer can we be content with just creating teams that work well together as a group, we must help our teams to be sensitive to the emotional dynamics within the team as well as within the other teams with which the team must be interdependent.

Sources:
3-D Chess: Boosting Team Productivity Through Emotional Intelligence, Steve Barth, Harvard Management Update, 2001
Primal Leadership: Realizing The Power of Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman, Harvard Business School Press, March 2002