By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter

Businesswomen need emotional intelligence to meet the challenges in their career, said a group of speakers  yesterday during a panel discussion at the fourth annual Qatar International Business Women Forum organised by Qatari Business Women’s Association (QBWA)  at St Regis hotel.
Speaking on ‘Businesswomen Leaders - A unique style and technique’,  the panelists discussed different aspects of emotional intelligence. The five major aspects of emotional intelligence are self awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills which are very important for successful business. Some felt that these skills can be acquired while others opined that people can be trained to develop these skills. They also stated that training in emotional intelligence can be team building and creating an environment of trust in  business organisations.  
Meisa Batayneh, founder and principal architect, Maisam Architects and Engineers, Jordan, Seraj al- Baker, chairman of the board for First Dubai Real Estate Development Company and chairman of the board for AlBaker International, Kuwait, Buthaina al- Ansari, senior director, Human Resources, Ooredoo, Professor Nitham M Hindi, dean of College of Business and Economics at Qatar University, and Julie Barker, chief operating officer at Texas A&M University at Qatar took part in the discussions.
Elaborating on the idea of emotional intelligence Barker said: “It is a quality that delivers self confidence and self awareness. In a sense it is managing your emotions through self control that can make a huge difference in leadership role.” She added that the different elements of emotional intelligence can define successful leaders.
Hindi discussed how emotional intelligence has financial rewards for individuals and organisations. He said: “Emotional intelligence is connected with performance of each individual and it relates to the way we deal with each other and  taking decisions in consideration of others.” He urged that more women should  continue their higher education and  become female role models for the future generations.
Buthaina al-Ansari, from Ooredoo spoke about how Ooredoo prepared a career development path for each employee and highlighted the efforts of her organisation in empowering women and providing them more opportunities. She said: “Ooredoo has shared ownership,  the employee  can feel part of the company. This motivates the employee to feel loyal. The employee needs to come to work for more than just a salary at the end of the month. We invest in their development to appeal to the whole person.”
Meisa Batayneh from Jordan felt that happiness of the employees should be a major goal for any organisation. “A smiling employee is an asset for the organisation. The financial part is a motivation but a more important factor is the emotional one and businesswomen must take stock of this aspect.” The discussion was moderated by Lubna Bouza, business news anchor for CNBC Arabia.