DOHA, Qatar – Qatar Airways has partnered with Six Seconds to introduce enhanced emotional intelligence training. Seventeen members from the Customer Experience Training Team have successfully completed a customised training programme developed by Six Seconds, to become certified practitioners in Emotional Intelligence.

Qatar Airways’ Customer Experience Department has also commenced training of its on board leaders in the area of Emotional Intelligence and these workshops will be extended to all Customer Experience staff from April onwards.

Emotional Intelligence, also referred to as EQ, is the ability to perceive, manage and effectively communicate by understanding one’s emotions as well as those of others in order to facilitate higher levels of communication and successful interaction.

Qatar Airways Senior Vice President Customer Experience, Rossen Dimitrov, who oversaw the recent certification ceremony honouring the new EQ Practitioners said: “Qatar Airways is highly supportive of learning and development and this effective training programme will be highly beneficial for our trainers, our staff and ultimately for how we communicate with our customers.

“By involving our Customer Experience staff in emotional intelligence training, they are able to develop the skills and knowledge to better understand our passengers’ needs, how to manage their expectations and ultimately leave our passengers with even more positive memorable experiences.

“We also recognise the importance of emotions and want to create an organisation that is emotionally intelligent because that brings about numerous positive changes, including training effectiveness and customer service excellence, as well as an improvement in employee performance. Our staff are one of our most valuable assets and on-going training is a vital part of their development.”

Six Seconds, originally established in Silicon Valley in the United States, is one of the global leaders in turning the science of emotional intelligence into practical tools. Commenting on the partnership with Qatar Airways, Jayne Morrison, Six Seconds’ Regional Director, Middle East & Africa, said: “We are delighted to be working with Qatar Airways to strengthen their reputation in delivering service excellence by integrating emotional intelligence into all their learning and development offerings for the Customer Experience staff.  We believe that this will ensure they continue to excel in developing teams that thrive and provide memorable experiences for all who fly with them.”

Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar has seen rapid growth in just 18 years of operation, to the point where today it is flying a modern fleet of 150 aircraft to 146 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.

Qatar Airways’ cabin crew are renowned around the world for the high levels of inflight service, winning the Best Cabin Crew in the world award in the Middle East edition of the prestigious industry magazine Business Traveller.  In 2013, Qatar Airways also won for the second year in a row, the Skytrax award for the Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East.