Hot issue: It’s just emotion, taking HR over

Age is just a number – that’s what our readers are saying about one controversial piece of advice a leadership coach gave us

When we published a piece about emotional intelligence recently, it seems we hit a sore spot for some readers.
Leadership coach Jimmy Daniel laid out three key points in successful emotional intelligence training:
  • Forget about the poor performers
  • Follow up after training
  • Expect resistance from older staff
And it was with his last point that two readers had a gripe. While baby boomers remain in the workforce, Daniel expects that there will still be people who misunderstand emotional intelligence and the value it creates. “The people that resist emotional intelligence the most are the baby boomers because it has a negative connotation,” he says, “but your younger work group wants nice people in the room.”
Our readers let their opinions loose in the comments:
I object to the comment that the most resistance to discussions on the value of emotional intelligence come from the "baby boomers" in the workforce. Authentic emotional intelligence comes with life experience and maturity, personal insight and the ability to reflect on one's own behaviour. Understanding the impact of our behaviour on others is certainly not the preserve of the young. – Wendy Hodson

…attributing scepticism - the heart of science - to old age, does nothing for your cause. Considering the literature, I am yet to be convinced that the term 'emotional intelligence' adds anything but marketing grist to our understanding of human performance at work. At this stage it has no part in selection of employees, as employee performance has multitudinous antecedent factors. I need to see a lot more experimental work across cultures and comparisons with a whole plethora of interpersonal, networking, influencing, judgmental, decision making skills before supporting training in this 'new' skill. – Alan Harrison
 
Do you agree that opposition to emotional intelligence training has no correlation with age? Tell us below.

You might also like:
Comment of the week: Revisiting outplacement
Comment of the week: The future of outplacement
Comment of the week: Yahoo embraces bell curve ranking