The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Lagos State Council have urged states and non-state actors to leverage empathy and emotional intelligence while seeking to resolve conflicts and enhance interpersonal relationships as well as individual welfare.

At a workshop with the theme ‘Industrial Harmony: Need for a Blend of Conflict Resolution and Emotional Intelligence Skills’, which was held in Lagos, the workers concerted ideas and identified soft skills needed to dissect situations before responding.

Chairman of TUC, Lagos State Council, Gbenga Ekundayo, defined empathy as a soft skill that could help the leadership of the labour movement to achieve their goals, especially in people management.

“It is important that we improve on our emotional intelligence skills so that we can be able to identify our failings, analyse them, and also acknowledge the other party’s feelings and manage them.

“The same thing you say depends on who is listening, who is receiving it, and how you convey it, which may actually bring you a positive response or may lead otherwise. So, it is emotional intelligence that will tell you how to gauge your feelings and know what to apply at that time,” Ekundayo said.

Highlighting the importance of image laundering for the country, Chairman
/Chief Consultant of Global Transport Policy Training Academy, Dr Segun Musa, said that emotional intelligence makes the workforce better, especially in areas of negotiation, conflict resolution, and ensuring that there is an interpersonal relationship between them and the management of the organisation.

“We want to ensure that we can cover the vacuum and the space that the government is unable to cover. We want to ensure that whatever the government is doing, we are also by the side supporting and strengthening the effort of the government, and globally we are being viewed from the right perspective,” Musa said.

The Chief Consultant added that attitudinal change to conflict resolution, to management, and in every sphere would launder Nigeria’s image “so that globally they can see us as the giant of Africa and as a serious country that is forging ahead to improve the system that has been battered.”