An Executive’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence and the Psychology of Filipino Workers

If a candidate wants to get hired, he primarily needs high Intelligence Quotient (IQ), but if he covets to get promoted, he must have a high Emotional Intelligence (EQ). In the same correlation, if an executive desire to be successful, he should have a team with high IQ, but if he aims for an excellent one, he must have a team who values EQ.

It was a proven fact that an executive can only achieve the ascendance from the monotony of success to the full culmination of excellence if he has a team who works together in harmony and in maximum effectiveness. The competition in talent acquisition has really been tough these days. It is on how human resource strategies get along with the rapid changes to explicitly respond to the demands of the competition without compromising the quality of hired employees as their company’s invaluable assets. The job has been tedious but there is a key for every executive and their recruiters to conclude a talent decision the company will never regret. Apart from satisfying clients’ expectations, the company can also attain a work ambiance healthy for everyone. Apparently, a recruiter could never go wrong with a candidate who possesses high levels of EQ. Regardless of job type, EQ has been a reliable predictor of a guaranteed positive performance in the workplace.

Long before, IQ has been the only gauge recruiters have to foresee a candidate’s viable success in the industry. But with decades of research, a missing link yet a critical factor that was long disregarded in the crucial process of talent acquisition has been found. This critical factor doesn’t just make the job of recruiters easier but just ascertained that they may have been losing potential top performers in the process. It was just in 1995 when this new kind of smart has been determined and coined. And in 2020, the World Economic Forum predicts this to emerge as one of the top 20 skills among human resources, even surpassing technical abilities.

Emotion Matters

Emotional intelligence or EQ surprisingly comprises that critical portion to 90% of star performers in every company. But by being intangible, it may be difficult to figure how much we have or how much we actually lack. Emotions are intrinsic to our humanness and are vital in controlling how will we behave within our premise. Inherently, candidates with high levels of EQ can manage their own feelings, can perceive and express themselves, can form and maintain social relationships, can cope with stressful challenges and can come up with personal decisions which guarantee favorable result. Such qualities may have been commendatory for many executives who envisions to have a healthy work environment and an excellent workspace. It so happens that people with high EQ are usually successful in most things they do. Every team wants to have them. Their attitude essentially brings good karma back to them.

Meanwhile, if you have an employee who get stressed easily, who could not stand tension and endure anxiety, who couldn’t manage their moods responsibly, who couldn’t handle conflict, who are quick to make assumptions and argues vehemently, who easily succumbed to pessimistic emotions, who always blames other people, who are easily offended by negative remarks, or those who are just being toxic in your workplace are indications you have overlooked the candidate’s level of EQ before absorbing them in your company. Along with an increasingly demanding professional climate various industry requires, higher stress levels, increased workloads and hours, and the pressure of the fast-paced environment make it more crucial. Executives should try to hire the most emotionally- intelligent individuals who could handle this or at the very least, dedicate premium for their manpower’s emotional needs.

While cognitive intelligence is as significant to determine whether a candidate could perform the job as prescribed, knowing whether he will succeed in doing such is where emotional intelligence plays a great role.  This will foretell a candidate’s motivation, creativity, drive, commitment, passion, and energy to carry out his function more than we expect.

IQ alone could not fill in your vacancies with ideal employees you ever wished to have.  A man with high EQ but low IQ may have intellectual discrepancies while having someone with high IQ, but low EQ may lead to poor performance. An ideal candidate is a seamless fusion of both.

Executives must acknowledge this strategy as their own competitive edge in their respective market and for such assets are keys which will never be duplicated by competitors.

The Filipino Psychology

There has been a lot of misconceptions about how western countries view the psychology of the Filipino people. Dr. Virgilio Enriquez, the Father of Philippine Psychology himself, pinpointed the emotional values of Filipinos that many western ideologies had subjected into bad light.

Enriquez highlighted in his contributions to the study regarding the emotional intelligence of the Filipino people the three core values that have been uniquely shared in its culture.

First is the concept of “Kapwa” or shared identity which emphasizes how Filipino communities have been established.  Everyone in the community is generally inclined with a people-centered orientation, that they are morally-obliged to connect and to build relationship with others.

Second is the shared inner nobility or the spirit of “Bayanihan” where people are willing to offer a helping hand for a common cause.

Lastly, intuition or in the western psychology, specifically known as emotional intelligence. This has been an innate quality among Filipinos where they can naturally read body languages, tone of voice, and hidden emotions by mere gut- feeling.

For Westerners, the ‘as- God- wills’ attitude among Filipinos is a sign of fatalism but in actuality, it is an expression of determination and preparedness to face whatever challenge is ahead. Some foreign countries also regard the concept of “debt of gratitude” as a return of favor with interest but on the contrary, it is not a debt obliged to be paid but only a regard to kindness being offered. The natural expression of shame among locals was also misunderstood by westerners as on how awkward we are to become socially acceptable but in fact, it is just our innate sense of propriety to whatever circumstances we get involved with. Even the way Filipinos aim for companionship was a misconception to debunk as it was regarded to avoid arguments or conflicts but in reality, it is just natural for many Filipinos to long for camaraderie, build relationships, and form harmonious community, and as a norm, Filipinos give the best treatment they think every human deserves. Lastly, Filipinos were seen as being too emotional. Studies have shown that the Philippines topped as the home of the World’s most emotional people, while Singapore, being the least. But to be more precise, being emotional is an understatement.

Psychologist regarded this behavior distinctively as emotional expressiveness, a relevant indicator of emotional intelligence. Expressiveness comes along with awareness in recognizing the entirety of emotionality.

After all, EQ is not being emotional alone, it is an umbrella term for skills such as: self- awareness, interpersonal communication, flexibility, stress management, and optimism.

Singapore has actually pioneered emotional intelligence education because of their alarming status on EQ while the United States, which doesn’t appear at the forefront in the statistic, has still to work on their level of self- awareness, a skill innate for 60% of Filipino people.

This nature has been considered by psychologists from Spaniards which had an occupancy of three centuries in the archipelago.  

While emotional intelligence is a set of core skills and competencies that we could learn and develop as we grow, Filipinos, in general, are innate to be intelligent emotionally.

Seasoned recruiters will always have an eye for star performers. Learn more of our best practices in talent acquisition and let us collaborate to achieve your business goals.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.

Marc Ace Palaganas - Digital Marketer/ Senior Writer

Upon finishing a journalism degree with flying colors, he has discovered his niche as a freelance journalist in a health and lifestyle journal, a travel magazine, a science blog, multiple news websites, various advocacy blogs, and a social entrepreneurship network. His innate affair with writing eventually brought him to the business of recruitment and human resource. A writer and an advocate at heart, serving people through his capacity for words has been his passion.