Emotional Intelligence in Virtual Teams

Almost every employee has worked in a virtual team sometime or the other. Those who have experienced it first-hand knows that the challenges are real. A very specific and crucial concern is managing emotions in virtual teams. Since the members are physically distant, they cannot assess the gestures and paralinguistic features of emails and words spoken during video conferences or voice calls. However, if the emotional intelligence of the virtual team members is high, the conflicts and emotional turmoil are likely to be lower. This is because they understand their emotions as well as their team’s emotions.

What is EQ?

Having high EQ or Emotional Quotient means that you can harness your strengths and reap their full benefits without letting your weaknesses get the better of you. EQ is a psychometric indicator of emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence refers to the ability to be aware of, identify, label and control our emotions. It is the ability to control impulsive outbursts of emotions. The components of emotional intelligence are:

• Self-Awareness: It is the ability to be aware of our strengths, weaknesses and emotional states.
• Self-Regulation: The ability to manage emotions and control impulsive emotional outbursts.
• Motivation: It is the ability to see oneself in the long run and not be swayed or tempted by momentary pleasures.
• Empathy: It is the ability to place oneself in others’ shoes and understanding the emotions of other people.
• Social Skills: This refers to the ability to connect and build positive and trusting interpersonal relationships with others.

How does emotional intelligence help in remote work?

Emotional intelligence may prove to be very helpful in virtual teams. This is because employees who have higher emotional quotient are better able to follow “PECT”.

P: Pause

Employees who have high emotional intelligence in virtual teams are more likely to take a pause when they are emotionally aroused. Whenever you have something to say to your team, take a pause before expressing it. Count till 10. The pause will not only help you calm your nerves but also enable you to mentally rehearse your speech. Such a rehearsal with the aim of productive communication will help you make the emotional tone of your message either neutral or positive. Avoid sending a negative message unless it is absolutely necessary.

Further, when you receive a message and believe that the tone is negative, take a pause. Count till 10 again. Think about the work context and what you were discussing before. Also, keep in mind the general communication pattern of the teammate who has sent the message. Normalize the tone based on the above factors and read it again. Try to interpret it in a positive way unless it is blatantly negative. Do not try to read under the lines and avoid overthinking.

E: Empathize

Empathy is one of the key components of emotional intelligence. During remote work, not all your team members enjoy the same infrastructure. There may be disruption on the internet, issues in the teleconferencing software or some other technological issue. Further, due to differences in geography and time, there may be delays. If someone is working from home, they may be disturbed by kids, pets or other family members. There might be cultural differences. For instance, in your culture, having personal conversations during work meetings may be frowned upon. However, your teammate could come from a culture where it is polite to begin with a personal query.

You need to empathize with everyone. Be considerate of your team’s feelings and emotions. Do not judge people who come from other cultures just because they are different from you. This will not only save your work agenda but also give you a positive experience and thereby help you reduce your own stress levels. Empathizing with your team members will also help you be a better person in the long run.

C: Communicate

One of the most effective ways to avoid conflicts in a virtual team is to communicate. Employees with high emotional intelligence have very good social skills. They know when to communicate, what to communicate and whom to direct their communication. Also, receivers are better able to grasp the essence of communication from such employees.

Your communication skills will enable you to also understand what other people in your team are saying. For instance, in case of a disagreement between two team members, good communicators would talk the matter out whereas a poor communicator would be unable to communicate timely and accurately and end up worsening the situation further.

If you are working in a remote team, you need to upgrade your communication skills, especially online communication skills. Use neutral words and never try to humiliate or hurt your teammate on purpose. A good way to neutralize the negative tone of messages is by using emoticons. Also, using emoticons make the emotional tone of the message clear, minimizing the chances of misinterpretation.

T: Trust

The importance of trust cannot be stressed enough. Studies have shown that it often takes longer to build trust in virtual teams. In order to be a successful performer, you must ensure that your team members perceive you as a trustworthy person. Your own actions determine your trustworthiness.

Trust is a combination of ability, integrity and benevolence. Your team members are likely to trust you if you are a good performer if you behave in accordance with organizational and societal values and if you are in general perceived to be kind and meaning well.

How can you increase emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence in virtual teams is of special importance. It is not a personality trait. You can improve it at any point in your life if you want to. To know more about enhancing emotional intelligence, please refer to our previous article on the MAGICS framework to enhance emotional intelligence.

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