Human Resource Knowledge

Why Smart Managers Still Fail, IQ or EQ!

Evil Erik is in trouble again, he needs a new F&B Manager basically to do his job, the last one lasted 4 months, although he was heralded as the biggest gift to F&B Management on earth, it soon turned out to be a wrong choice.

The closing stage came after this "manager" a guest, who was complaining that the waitress served something that he didn't order, that he was lying and then, that same evening, mixed up the room numbers with the Room Service order for that very expensive bottle of champagne!

So, for the second time in 6 months, Atrocious Angela and Evil Erik agreed on something and that meant "out" !

And although the HR Department has deleted all other F&B Manager's application from a few months ago and the sacked F&B Manager is an active member of the regional F&B association and is aggressively spreading his side of the story and his experiences with Erik and Angela management styles, Evil Erik has now 2 candidates.

Mr. I. Knowitall has a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
This candidate can reason, is analytical and logical, and has a steel-trap focus on tasks. He learns new things quickly. However, he ignores how he is feeling and how others are feeling, but can kiss a...very well!

If things don't go the way he expects them to, he will lose his temper and lash out at others. He is unable to relate to people who aren't as smart as he is and lacks empathy. This limits his ability to be effective in team situations even though his IQ is very high.

Mr. W.E. Lovepeople has a high Emotional Quotient (EQ)
This gentleman gets along well with people, and manages his own emotions well. This makes him highly effective in his work, even though there are others, like Evil Erik, with higher IQs.

He is able to influence and motivate people because he understands what matters to them and is an excellent communicator. His authenticity and integrity makes him a natural leader. He is flexible and creative when faced with a challenge, and resilient in the face of temporary defeats. He is well-liked and well-respected.

Guess who finally got the job?

Mr. I. Knowitall, simply because Evil Erik sees a younger version of himself in this candidate and because the other candidate makes him realize his own weaknesses too unambiguously.

What Erik doesn't know, because he is only reading the "Who goes Up and Who goes Down" in the e-Hotelier, is that all research in this important part of Human Resources indicates that, for jobs of every type, EQ is twice as important as IQ and technical skills combined.

Moreover, EQ accounts for 85% of what separates star performers from average ones. In other, simpler words, IQ gets you through school, EQ gets you through life.

It is not clear for poor Erik that when you recognize the difference between EQ and IQ, you can work to develop your EQ, even if it is as low as his present intensity.

It can be improved but since it has often been neglected in the early education stages, both at home by the parents, at school by the teachers and in the workplace by supervisors, it is the primary reason why so many graduate and undergraduate students have a problem finding a job in our tourism industries.

Unfortunately most Hotel school lecturers in Asia work by theory alone and focus on filling the student's memory, instead of teaching them how to appeal to reasons and emotions in order to convince others.

And that's why now Universities start believing in Problem Based Learning, an instructional method that challenges students to "learn to learn" and to work cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to existent tourism problems.

These problems are used to engage students' curiosity and initiate learning the subject matter, as well as to think critically and analytically and, last but not least, to find solutions by using the appropriate educational resources and conclusively by combining IQ and EQ!

The question both educators and employers should keep asking themselves is "How can I get my students/staff to think?" and that through projects related to the practice, the students/staff can achieve a much greater understanding than by "just" listening to their lecturers/superiors!

Evil Erik's bottom line, when he would think abstemious, is straight forward, he must start realizing that his candidate's EQ has to do with success and happiness in life, both business and private, and that excessive IQ is a guarantee for renewed trouble in 6 months from now!

In other words neither IQ nor hardware, but EQ is the foremost reason for the amazing success of some hoteliers and, because of the lack of this quality, the disastrous down-fall of a lot of other hospitality executives.

Labels: Management

posted by Paresh @ 7:02 PM