The work environment (the legal office we operate in) is incredibly important when it comes to productivity and the emotional health of employed legal practitioners, as it will affect their personal productivity and their contribution to the overall success of the legal practice. Ensuring the work environment is as healthy as it can be is the responsibility, or can benefit from the influence, of legal practice managers.
Legal practice managers have the challenge and responsibility of developing their own emotional intelligence and recognising it and fostering its growth in others. For instance, the emotional intelligence of the managing partners sets the stage for the workplace atmosphere in a legal practice, and ultimately, the outcome of the performance of the lawyers a firm.
Before delving into specific areas in which emotional intelligence can help create an overall healthy atmosphere in the workplace, it is prudent to identify the reality of law firms and lawyers today. One often-referred-to paper in this area is John Briton’s Lawyers, Emotional Stress and Regulation. Mr Briton was the Legal Services Commissioner in Queensland when he discussed the results of The BeyondBlue and Beaton Consulting Annual Professions Survey conducted in April 2007.
According to the results of this survey, lawyers are two and a half times more likely than other professionals to suffer from clinical depression. Mr Briton also note that in the following year, Sydney University’s Brain
The strengths of this study are that it allows for flexibility and in-depth knowledge about the emotional states before and after speaking with these attorneys. It has strong internal validity. While it allows for a thick description of their experiences, the variables can be standardized, so data can be collected and a statistical analysis can be made. The limitation of this study is that the findings are not generalizable, it takes so much time to conduct the interviews and there are various interpretations of the results by researchers and
Emotional intelligence is very helpful in maintaining a healthy working environment through decreasing conflict, increasing harmony and building strong, healthy relationships. Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to identify and understand self and others’ emotions in a proactive way. Emotional intelligence can be achieved through acceptable behavior and stress management training. Emotional intelligence helps in proactive emotional approach that is efficient in emotional balance management. It is guided by self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management (PENN Behavioral Health Corporate Services, 2008).
Australian Business Leaders have identified skills that are most important in a business landscape; these include Continuous Professional Development and Communication Skills. In this portfolio I will reflect upon my skill development and learning’s in BSB124 – Working In Business. Through this reflection I will discuss my skills built through the learning of Emotional Intelligence throughout the unit. I will be discussing Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence theory that we have learnt as well as other practical ways of testing Emotional Intelligence. I will also discuss an area of possible improvement of my Emotional Intelligence linking to my future career prospects through my own personal results in the Schuttes Emotional
With the publication of Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence in 1995, the business world got an answer to a question that had been plaguing it for decades: “Why did some people of a high IQ struggle at managing teams while other leaders of lower IQ excel at it”? Goleman asserted that the traditional measurement of IQ (intelligence quotient) was not enough to determine a good leader. Schools and universities concentrated on developing the cognitive and analytical part of the brain, while the teaching of how the emotional side of the brain worked was ignored. Goleman defined this “emotional intelligence” of a human being as a set of competencies that distinguish how one manages
The case in favour of diversity within the legal profession is incredibly strong. As Robert J. Grey JR, a partner at law firm Hunton & Williams argues, “diversity is a critical element of our society” . The reasoning for this has been illustrated in a blog post published by ‘Aspiring Solicitors’. It states how “diversity in the legal profession plays a very important role in regard to formulating new approaches and tactics”. This suggests that by bringing individuals together from different backgrounds and with diverse views, it could lead to more innovative ways of thinking. As a result, it may
The book “Working with Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman deals with the emotional assets and liabilities of individuals in organizations. Emotional intelligence is traits that go beyond academic achievement or IQ. As a matter of fact he points out that high academic intelligence can sometimes stand in the way of emotional intelligence. Broadly speaking, emotional intelligence determines how well we handle difficult situation, which cannot be solved by logic, but more by a “feel” for the situation. These attributes are very hard to measure, which is why many standardized tests, whether academic or for employment, fail to measure these attributes, even though these are the one which determine
“Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage our emotions and those around us, therefore, this quality gives individuals a variety of skills, such as the ability to manage relationships, navigate social networks, influence and inspire others. Every individual possesses different level, but in order for individuals to become effective leaders, they will need a high level of emotional intelligence. In today’s workplace, it has become a highly important
In contrast with the past workplace challenges and organizational behavior, there is a necessity to understand ourselves and others. Sometimes the stress and prestige can cause an adverse impact on one’s position in the workplace. The ability to deal with our emotions while working effectually with others and at the same time, performing the organization’s expectations are in high demand. Since the employees are an asset, and the organization is expecting a return on their investment, understanding how emotions work and how it impacts one’s capacity is indispensable in accomplishing organizational goals. In the workplace, people often have to work with each other. So the handling of relationships and interacting with others becomes the key to the success of the organization. Managers need to have a combination of skills and abilities such as the strength of will, awareness of self, empathy for others and sensitivity toward others internally and externally. Before one can handle others emotions he/she must first learn to lead themselves. So the question become, how is this done? Coleman’s theory suggest that this can be done through emotional intelligence which is the ability to create, build and maintain viable relationships (Coleman, 1998, p. 14). No one wants to follow the leadership of a person who cannot manage his/her emotions. Let’s look together at three business CEO’s personal backgrounds and use of emotional intelligence. The top chief emotions officers in the U.S.
"Emotional Intelligence is a way of recognizing, understanding, and choosing how we think, feel, and act. It shapes our interactions with others and our understanding of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn; it allows us to set priorities; it determines the majority of our daily actions. Research suggests it is responsible for as much as 80% of the "success" in our lives." The Effective leader requires a high degree of Emotional Intelligence. In this study, the various skills of Emotional Intelligence can be related with real situations. The various skills of Emotional Intelligence are Self awareness, self regulation, motivation, Empathy, social skill. People with high self-awareness are also able
A healthy work environment “is a set of interconnecting surroundings, circumambiencies, and conditions that determine, influence, and guide growth and action” (Kramer, Schmalenberg, & Maguire, 2010, p. 4). There is a variety of different characteristics surrounding a healthy work environment. Some characteristics are “a culture of collaboration and communication, adequate and appropriate staffing, authentic leadership, meaningful recognition, and continued professional development” (Sanders, Krugman, & Schloffman, 2013, p. 346). A healthy work environment assists in satisfied employees, which in turn retains
Emotional intelligence is a term I had never heard of before I took my first leadership class. Now that I know what emotional intelligence is and I understand how to use it I hope to apply it to benefit myself and my organizations. I recognize what a huge disadvantage those that do not understand emotional intelligence are faced with. Emotional Intelligence has become a vital part of how today's leaders meet the many various challenges they face on a day to day basis. Emotional Intelligence can help leaders lead their group or organization through the good and the bad times, something that fewer and fewer people seem capable of accomplishing. Lack of emotional intelligence is
Laws must be observed in order for business, society, and local government to operate proficiently. Laws are put into place to help keep people’s behaviors in order and to regulate standards. Law is a body of rules of action or conduct prescribed by controlling authority and having legal binding force. The common characteristic of the current state of law is that it creates duties, obligations, and rights that reflect accepted views of a given society (Melvin, 2011). The law provides a format to resolve disputes that arise from the duties and rights and allows parties to enforce promises in a court of law. Laws serve many roles and functions in business, society and local government.
This paper is aimed at evaluating my own emotional intelligence while subsequent parts of the paper will discuss how this emotional intelligence affects other aspects of human life like business, religion and politics. In this part of the paper, I will reflect on and demonstrate the skills and the knowledge needed to enable one to accurately see and understand the emotional strengths, weaknesses and nuances of other workers at the workplace.
Emotional intelligence is broadly known to be a key part of effective leadership. Understanding how the brain works and how the emotional response works should also be an element in where we place colleagues within our organisations (Brown, 2014). Having the capacity to relate behaviours and difficulties of emotional intelligence on workplace performance is an immense point of interest in building an outstanding team (Lunenburg, 2011).
As people are increasingly joining professional careers, more researchers are interested to uncover how some of these careers are impacting individuals. Stress is something that is experienced by almost everyone at one point. Nonetheless, when stress is occurring constantly and extensively, it negatively impacts an individual in all aspects of their life. Hence, many researchers want to figure out the causes and effects of job stress in particular on people. Considering the nature of the work involved, it is no surprise that one career that is commonly associated with stress is that of a lawyer. While there are a large variety of factors that may come into play for causing job stress, there are a few that are more prominent than others. Job stress among lawyers is often further impacted by and dependent on the gender of the lawyer, his or her level of commitment, and the occurrence of any conflict within their family.