The Ethics of Emotional Intelligence
The EI research report discussed above reveals that EI, when defined purely as a set of measurable emotional skills(devoid of ethical considerations), can very easily be placed in the service of very sinister and destructive goals.
So how do we acknowledge and use the ethical dimension of EI to create positive change in the workplace? And how do we ensure that our EI development interventions address and change the patterns and paradigms that encourage people to abuse emotional skills?
How are you using your Emotional Intelligence?
The etymological root of the word “ethics” is the Greek word ethos, which means habitual or customary conduct. Our ethics therefore refer to the way we habitually perceive and act in the world. Our ethics are also about what we believe is worth pursuing, what we believe is good, and what we focus on in the world. Our ethics are the habitual guidelines and beliefs we bring to our relationships about proper conduct.
Your ethics tell you what to place your emotional and intellectual skills in service of.
Will it be nuclear bombs or wind farms? Will it be promotion for yourself at the expense of others, or collaborating with your team to reach a collective goal? These are ethical questions, more than they are questions of ability.
Unfortunately many assessments measures (and definitions) for EI, such as that of the MSCEIT and EQi, do not provide individuals with any particular insight about their ethical world views. There is an assessment of emotional skill, but no particular revelation about what those emotional skills are placed in service of. These assessments could, for instance, tell a person that they have a superior ability in describing, understanding, managing and perceiving emotions, but provide no awareness (or challenge, if needed) of how and to what end those abilities are being used.
Hence, the concern about the abuse of emotional skills raised by the Management Today article and EI research report above.
To prevent EI development programs from becoming complicit in ignoring (and even encouraging) the misuse of emotional skills, some kind of further assessment and intervention is required. This assessment and intervention process must create a deep personal and interpersonal awareness, highlighting our world views, values, motivations, beliefs, and habitual patterns.
We need to be confronted with how and towards what end we are using our particular level emotional competency.
Personality Style as Ethical Paradigm for Emotional Intelligence
If we consider again that our ethics refer to the way we habitually perceive and act in the world, if we remember that our ethics are about what we believe is worth pursuing, what we believe is good, and what we focus on in the world, then these are the things a comprehensive EI assessment must identify.
Within the framework of personality style (and associated behavioural styles) we can begin to identify what we habitually focus on and pursue in our relationships. We can also understand what drives these habitual patterns. This encourages us to recognise our many competencies, but also to confront the personality-based pursuits and beliefs that create disconnection, conflict, disrespect and alienation between ourselves and others.
Although personality style is generally thought of as a set of traits and preferences, a deeper understanding of personality describes the beliefs, values, and ideals that drive those habitual traits and preferences – thereby making personality a paradigm for examining our ethics and developing true emotional intelligence.
So, rather than place a list of scores on emotional skills we need to identify how and why individuals tend to either undermine or promote mutually beneficial, considerate and productive relationships in the workplace. By locating EI at the level of personality and ethics an EI coaching process can confront and address the underlying destructive patterns that tend to lead to the abuse of emotional skills in the workplace.
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