Why emotional intelligence matters in the modern propane workplace

For three decades, business leaders have mined the work of psychologists to bring compassion, empathy and wisdom to their workplaces in order to foster greater collaboration and success.

That work has become increasingly relevant as the world continues to crawl out of the 2020 global pandemic. A new generation of employees who spent months at home behind computer screens or socially distanced behind masks is still learning how to interact with one another in a business setting.

Now, workplaces are discovering the lost art of relationships and learning how they influence leadership interactions, sales, staff development and retention, culture and more. They’re finding that employees with a high degree of emotional intelligence know how to navigate conflicts, listen, collaborate and maintain positive environments. Savvy business leaders are investing in training to develop these skills.

Within the propane industry, Jennifer Jackson is at the forefront of this emotional intelligence movement, and she’s encouraged by the change she’s witnessed.

“A lot of people think about it as a soft skill. It’s not. It’s a performance skill,” she says. “It’s something you can strengthen, something you can flex.”

Jackson, director of territory operations for AmeriGas and former chairwoman of the Women in Propane Council (WIP), is deploying this training as a module of the popular DiSC behavior assessment tool introduced by the council 10 years ago.

DiSC is a model that describes four basic behavioral styles: dominance, influence, steadiness and conscientiousness. Developed in the 1920s by William Moulton Marston, its premise is that all humans are composed of varying degrees of these four traits, forming a unique behavioral profile with different styles and priorities.

The theory holds that, if leaders and employees understand their own and each other’s styles, they will build empathetic relationships and maximize each interaction. Employees will feel valued and more psychologically safe to speak up, share ideas and ask questions, all of which yields higher performance results.

A wide variety of organizations use DiSC training to deepen their understanding of themselves and others, making workplace interactions more enjoyable and effective. Advocates like Jackson say the training helps workforces become more engaged and collaborative, yielding stronger teams.

“It’s a neat way to dig deep into how you respond to situations, to understand what your current status is and how to be more empathetic to other people,” Jackson says.

Initially, Women in Propane introduced the Everything DiSC Workplace Profile, which provides a broad understanding of participants’ own style, a greater appreciation for their colleagues’ working styles and strategies for building stronger relationships, communicating more effectively and navigating conflict.

Now, Jackson is finding increased interest in the Agile EQ module, which teaches participants to read the emotional and interpersonal requirements of a situation and respond quickly and appropriately.

She’s offered this training module about 15 times since she rolled it out about two years ago. Three more trainers are coming on board this summer to meet the growing demand.

“We presented it at a leadership forum the year before last. It was a huge hit, and it’s been one of our most popular ever since. We stay booked every year,” she says. “It’s our biggest revenue maker for Women in Propane.”

« Prev Page 1 2 3 Next Page »