Indian Railways is now set to rely on emotional intelligence to improve service delivery

The Indian Railways had earlier adopted artificial intelligence (AI) to resolve the issue of signal failures. Now, it has gone a step ahead and turned to emotional intelligence (EI) to ensure that is senior employees perform better in terms of decision making, are able to work in a stress-free environment and show more empathy. Reliance on EI is expected to enhance the overall service delivery systems.

In many situations, senior official have been known to be unable to take the pressure, which has affected their decision-making capacity. As a result, the need for more emotionally intelligent leaders was felt.

Therefore, a programme has been initiated to ensure that all senior officials receive EI training from a globally certified trainer. The EI course lessons, created by Canada’s Multi-Health Systems, are aimed at enabling senior-level staff member to resolve issues involving emotions, especially when it comes to handling customers.

These lessons will give the participants the confidence to impact difficult situations in a positive manner and make the right decisions. The sessions will also make the participants realise their strengths and make productive use of it. The lessons cover topics, such as self-perception, self-expression, problem-solving and stress management. The course is aimed at making the participants more empathetic, flexible and assertive. It will make them more capable of tolerating stress and controlling their impulses.

The trained senior officials will then impart EI training to their juniors so that there is an overall improvement in the productivity and well-being of the workforce.

In phase one of the course, all general managers and divisional railway managers have been trained at the National Academy of Indian Railways in Vadodara.