More than one third of workers are knowledge workers, people whose productivity is measured by their ability to add value to information. The productivity of knowledge workers depends on their ability to coordinate their efforts as part of an organizational team.
When a group of people come together to collaborate, they they have a group IQ, which is the sum total of their intellectual abilities. The single most important element in this turns out to be social harmony. This is the ability of group members to get along and to pool their talents for the greater good.
Many of the tasks that people are asked to do requires them to call on a loose network of colleagues who can share their knowledge and skills. Just how well people can work with these ad hoc teams, and cultivate members of their network is a crucial factor to success on the job. Developing rapport with a network of key people before their expertise is needed in a crunch time will make the difference between getting help quickly and not getting help at all.
Informal networks can be divided into at least three types, communication webs, based on who talks to whom; expertise networks based on which people are turned to for technical advice; and trust networks based on who people turn to with their secrets, doubts, and vulnerabilities. Success depends on being a major node in all three kinds of networks, and this requires high levels of emotional intelligence.
Adapted from Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence. NewYork: Bantam. 1995.
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