The past year has certainly thrown up some challenges and now that we are returning to offices and interacting more closely with each other, it has led to a few tricky situations arising when someone sneezes or coughs at work.
A client recently mentioned that her young son coughed in the supermarket (he swallowed some food too quickly!) and said she was met with glares and some mutterings about COVID from shoppers nearby. At a recent workshop, a participant commented about a team member repeatedly sneezing in the office. That team member suffers from hay fever and hadn’t taken an antihistamine drug that day. No-one in their team knew what to say or how to broach the questions on everyone’s mind at the time – “Have they had a COVID test? Should they go home? Who is monitoring this?”
A year or so ago we would have all been expecting people to take cold, flu or hay fever medications and deal with it themselves. In fact, we have sometimes been encouraged to go to work as it’s “just a cold” and in many workplaces stoicism over minor illness was viewed as a badge of honour. With the advent of COVID-19 all that has had to change and many of us now realise that in the past we have probably spread germs far and wide by working when a little unwell. Now we are being asked to stay home with even the slightest symptom and get tested.
What is required from organisations in this pandemic is for people leaders to agree and promote protocols for physically working together. This includes regularly reminding everyone of the importance of keeping themselves and their colleagues healthy through keeping safe distances, regular hand sanitising, temperature checks (as appropriate) and in particular stressing the need for any employee who feels sick to stay home and, if necessary, get tested for COVID-19. If this hasn’t happened in your workplace, you could ask your people leader to discuss it at a team meeting.
“I’m not currently aware of the protocols in terms of office sickness. It’s a bit unsettling and I’d like to discuss and agree on the team’s approach to illness. My suggestion is that if we have any symptoms, even if someone thinks it’s just hay fever or a cold, we get tested for COVID and then be supported to stay home until we are better no matter the result? Can we discuss this at the next team meeting?”
However, what if your colleagues haven’t been following these guidelines or you are worried about their coughs and sneezes in the office. If you know them well and generally have a good relationship with them, you could constructively observe they don’t seem well and provide some suggestions on what they could do.
“Jay it seems you have been sneezing a lot today. I know it’s a sensitive time right now sickness wise, are you feeling OK? Perhaps speak to Gisella (People Leader) about working from home until you feel better.”
Or
“Chris I am worried about that cough of yours. Do you feel OK? How about you head off home and get yourself better? It’s important to be safe and follow health guidelines.”
If you don’t feel comfortable raising it with your colleague yourself then you can take your concerns to your Team Leader/Supervisor/Manager or Human Resources and ask them to intervene.
“Kerry has been working really hard since we returned to working in the office and seems unwell, sneezing and coughing. It’s worrying me he could be infecting others in the team. Please can Kerry be asked to work from home until he is no longer coughing and sniffling?
These can feel like awkward conversations, however it is important to raise and resolve these issues to ensure bad feelings and misunderstandings do not arise among team members. COVID-19 has taken our personal and professional lives into new and unchartered territories, however when navigating these situations, it is important to implement the fundamentals of tough conversations and approach all situations with empathy.
And if you have any doubts about yourself, colleagues or your team follow the government guidelines and inform your colleagues of your actions, this will help build a good COVID-Safe work culture.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) can be defined as a set of emotional and social skills that influence the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and meaningful way.
EQ-i 2.0 and EQ-i 2.0 360 – A Scientific Approach to Talent Development
For almost 20 years, organisations have trusted the science that underpins the EQ-i 2.0® to help improve human performance. The EQ-i 2.0 is a psychometric assessment which measures emotional intelligence (EI) and how it can impact people and the workplace. Being the first scientifically validated measure of EI, coupled with research from premier organisations, means you can count on the EQ-i 2.0 to add robustness and accuracy to your talent management initiatives. Applications of emotional intelligence include:
Leadership Development
Selection
Organisational Development
Executive Coaching
Team Building
The EQ-i 2.0 Model
The 1-5-15 factor structure: The EQ-i 2.0 features one overarching EI score (Total EI), broken down into five composite scores which measure five distinct aspects of emotional and social functioning. These in turn, are broken down into a total of 15 sub scales.
Employee Development
The EQ-i 2.0 measures the interaction between a person and the environment he/she operates in. Assessing and evaluating an individual’s emotional intelligence can help establish the need for targeted development programs and measures. This, in turn, can lead to dramatic increases in the person’s performance, interaction with others, and leadership potential. The development potentials the EQ-i 2.0 identifies, along with the targeted strategies it provides, make it a highly effective employee development tool. Report options:
Workplace
Leadership
360 degree
Group
Why is EI Important?
While emotional intelligence isn’t the sole predictor of human performance and development potential, it is proven to be a key indicator in these areas. Emotional intelligence is not a static factor – to the contrary, one’s emotional intelligence changes over time and can be developed in targeted areas.
Talk to Sarah Barlow about using EQ-i 2.0 – call 02 9439 6040 or email contactus@marana.com.au
I read a newspaper article today commenting on how employers are currently seeking and recruiting for staff who have ‘likeability’ as well as technical ability in their field. The description of traits linked to ‘likeability’ fell very much into the domain of what Daniel Goleman labelled Emotional Intelligence in his 1994 book of the same name. Goleman had the same conclusion as the newspaper article; organisations want employees who get on with others, have a positive approach, are good to be around and get the job done. Good social skills, empathy for others and a level of self-awareness are important traits for developing and maintaining effective relationships in and out of work.
Recently we have been working with a couple of organisations on projects to develop staff awareness and skills in Emotional Intelligence, to build workplaces where people are engaged and where performance is high. As part of this work we have heard many stories from employees about people at all levels who displayed a lack of emotional intelligence, resulting in lower morale and productivity for those working with them. Some of the behaviours people disliked included:
Managers and staff with large mood swings so people feel like they are ‘walking on eggshells’. “From one day to the next you never know whether to approach them or not and what kind of reception you will get, so you end up avoiding them” was one comment.
Shouting and aggressive behaviour.
Managers giving feedback in front of the other team members or in a public place. “The manager corrected me in front of a customer and I was humiliated” said one person. It made her not want to work with customers or the manager again.
People who don’t interact with others or participate in the social niceties of the office such as not saying good day or hello and acknowledging others. Many of us have parents or guardians who would call this a lack of manners!
Team members who don’t do their fair share either in the work of the team or in office protocols. “We have one person here who never washes up their cup and plates, leaves them in the office sink and expects everyone else to do it. They get annoyed when we ask them to take their turn, so we end up not asking them and being resentful!” was one example of this.
People who are negative about most things. “This person is cynical about almost everything that happens and it is depressing and tiring to be around them,” commented one team member.
On the positive side, the following examples of good use of emotional intelligence were provided:
