Indian Railways Want TTEs, Officers To Have Empathy; Emotional Intelligence Workshops Planned
Indian Railways to become ‘Smart’ and ‘Sensitive’.
Indian Railways has now taken a modern initiative to teach emotional intelligence to the officials to deal with situations fraught with stress and difficulties. This step has been taken due to previous incidents that threw light on the officials’ inability to make quick decisions when under stress or pressure.
In the recent past, Indian Railways have progressed so far as to introduce Artificial Intelligence to prevent signal failure, GPS on each train, Wifi on each station, and are proud of their ‘smartness’. Now, after becoming ‘smart’, the new goal set by Indian Railways for themselves is to be ‘sensitive’.
Emotional Intelligence Workshops designed by Canada’s Multi-health Systems
Ashwani Lohani, the Railway Board Chairman came up with this innovative idea of emotional intelligence workshops. These workshops will analyze the senior officials on the basis of 15 parameters, some of which include self- perception, self-expression, inter-personal relationships, decision-making, and stress management.
These workshops are being conducted for the officials in order to increase their emotional intelligence, for them to be able to cope with the stress they are subjected to on a daily basis. This will help the officials deliver better and reach their full potential which in turn will boost the overall performance and service of the Indian Railways towards their customers.
The modules of the Emotional Intelligence workshop are designed and developed by Canada’s Multi-Health Systems. Based on a thorough research and certification, these modules will be conducted by R. Rajeshwar Upadhyay at National Academy of Indian Railways, Vadodara during November and December.
Officials’ Positive Response
One of these workshops has already been successfully completed by the General Managers and Division Railway Managers and have responded positively. The training will be conducted for the other officials in a phased manner.
“One comes to know about blind spots in the quick-decision-making process and also the strength one has in certain areas. Coping with stressful or difficult situations and believing that one can manage or influence situations in a positive manner is the main aim of the EI module”, said a participant of the workshop, who is a Divisional Railway Manager.
Employing Emotional Intelligence to deal with customers
Indian Railways’ plan for the future is to train their own trainers who can conduct similar workshops for young officers joining the Indian Railways as this will help them develop their career at the initial stages.
This initiative by Indian Railways is a progressive step taken for an effortless experience for the customers. As customers refer to the officials in case of any problems, the officials will be able to handle the problems in a sensitive manner, given their ability to be emotionally secure and strong.
