Corporate Training necessary for increasing Emotional Intelligence and Stress Busting

The word ‘emotional intelligence’ is a recent entry into the corporate lexicon. It describes the skill one has to posses in order to manage one’s own emotions or that of others. In fact, it has taken precedence over Intelligence Quotient (IQ) because intelligence is just the spark which is useless by itself, unless it is well managed. True, there are no corporate training programs on it yet, but the need is imminent and is as par with stress management, which is interlinked. Self regulation, towards having a more positive and optimistic outlook holds the key towards having a more ‘controlled’ emotional intelligence, which can go on the back foot if stress starts to creep in. Thus, it can be said that developing emotional intelligence is a way to diminish stress. Controlling emotions requires practice and the will to do it intrinsically while corporate training can just about bring about the ‘can do’ and ‘will do’ attitude along with marginal behavioral changes about the dos and don’ts at the peripheral level. Complete change of mindsets can only be done by people who are willing to do it themselves and is directly linked to self realization about the reason and benefits of the change. When pressure gets to hot to handle and managing it seems like impossibility, it is referred to as stress. It occur when a person is overburdened and feels that he or she is incapable of doing the job assigned to them in that given period of time. More often than not it occurs due to overload of information causing the unprepared mind to the ability to think coherently. Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman describe stress as “The result of imbalance between demands and resources”, or "as occurring when pressure exceeds one's perceived ability to cope." In many words it is also called tension, pressure, anxiety and sometimes leads to a medical condition called depression, which is serious for the employee and the company as it leads to productivity loss. Although some corporate training companies in India offer stress management techniques, not much serious efforts have gone into removing the root of the problem. Sometimes even the very word ‘target completion’ causes managerial stress so it is very necessary to recognize stress is leadership responsibility. If leaders were to seriously implement stress relief techniques in tandem with corporate training services, there would be a dramatic decline in levels of absenteeism due to stress related illnesses like headaches, backaches and nervous disorders. Therefore, the upper echelons in power in the corporate world must set realistic deadlines even if the company policy demands excess of work, as this can have a negative effect. All efforts must be done to keep the workspace free degenerative politics and unhealthy atmospheres. In the lower half of the work strata, if there is not enough scope for upward mobility, workers become disgruntled and one of the principal reasons for stress then becomes economics. As stress is primarily in the mind, so is its cure. Meditation and yoga are some of the best cures, but both require a positive frame of mind in order to bring about tangible results. Therefore, corporate training programs must factor in and include so many of the above points before they can hope bring about any positive change in the art of stress busting.