You’re an airline management professional. How can you use emotional intelligence to motivate your team?

2 Why is emotional intelligence important for airline management?

Emotional intelligence is important for any leadership role, but especially for airline management. As an airline manager, you deal with complex and dynamic situations that require quick and effective decisions. You also interact with a variety of stakeholders, such as customers, employees, regulators, suppliers, and partners. You need to be able to handle stress, uncertainty, and ambiguity, as well as to inspire, influence, and motivate others. Emotional intelligence can help you do that by enhancing your communication skills, your problem-solving abilities, your emotional resilience, and your team performance.

3 How can you assess your emotional intelligence?

To improve your emotional intelligence, you need to first assess your current level of EI. There are several tools and methods that can help you do that, such as self-assessments, feedback surveys, 360-degree reviews, coaching sessions, and psychological tests. You can also use your own observations and reflections to identify your strengths and areas for improvement. For instance, consider questions such as: do you understand your own emotions and how they affect your behavior? How do you cope with stress, frustration, or anger? Are you able to adapt to changing circumstances and expectations? Can you express your opinions and needs in a respectful and assertive way? Are you able to listen to and understand others' emotions and perspectives? Can you build rapport and trust with others? How do you handle conflicts and disagreements? And how do you collaborate and cooperate with others?

5 How can you use emotional intelligence to motivate your team?

As an airline manager, it is essential to motivate your team to perform at their best and achieve your goals. Emotional intelligence can be used to do this by applying certain principles. It is important to understand your team's emotions, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, values, and motivations. This can be done by observing, listening, asking questions, or conducting assessments. Doing this will help you tailor your leadership style, communication, feedback, and rewards to suit their needs and preferences. Additionally, inspiring your team is essential by creating a compelling vision, mission, and purpose; sharing your passion and enthusiasm; and involving them in decision-making and goal-setting. Empowering your team by delegating tasks, providing resources, and removing obstacles will help foster their confidence and creativity. Lastly, supporting your team by coaching them, mentoring them, training them, giving constructive feedback in a timely manner, and rewarding their efforts and achievements will help enhance their skills and performance. Emotional intelligence is a vital skill for airline management professionals that can improve their own performance as well as their team's engagement and well-being. By assessing, improving, and applying emotional intelligence effectively, airline managers can become more competent leaders in the industry.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?