Emotional Intelligence

Conversation with a rescued owl

You may be smart, but are you emotionally intelligent?

Is there someone in your company who is very much attuned to the needs of others? They seem to be able to sense things about people that the rest of us miss. Others have a way of controlling their emotions and remaining level-headed in even the most stressful situations. I suspect each of you can think of at least one person who displays those characteristics. How do they do it?

Chances are that they have a high degree of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence, also known as Emotional Quotient or “EQ”, is often defined as the capacity to understand and interpret the intentions, motivations and desires of others and the ability to understand oneself. EQ is often broken down into 4 core skills:

  1.  Self-awareness — is the ability to accurately perceive your own emotions in the moment and understand your tendencies across situations.
  2.  Self-management — involves controlling your own emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.
  3.  Social awareness — is the ability to sense, understand, and react to others’ emotions while comprehending social networks.
  4.  Relationship management — is the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict.

Studies have shown that 90 percent of high performers are also high in EQ.   These are important skills for good leaders. The good news is that EQ can be developed.  You can start by taking an EQ assessment to identify which areas you would like to address, then by creating a plan to improve in those areas. By focusing on increasing your emotional intelligence, you will likely increase success in both your business and personal life.

8 thoughts on “Emotional Intelligence

  1. EQ seems to be one of those enduring characteristics that transcends time, occupations, gender, education, and many other aspects of life. Thanks for continuing the awareness.

    • Darrick, there are many consultants who can provide these types of assessments. If you just need one for yourself, the easiest way may be to purchase the book “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. The book provides a code to take the assessment, and also provides guidelines on how you can improve in each area. Important note: I believe you have to purchase a new, hardcopy book to get the assessment code. That may have changed since I purchased the book several years ago. Thanks.

    • Darrick,
      When taking an EQ assessment, you want to make sure that it;s validated. There;s the “Big Three” that’s widely used: EQ-i 2.0, MSCEIT and the ESCI. We (Society of Emotional Intelligence) use the EQ-i 2.0. I’m happy to send you a sample report.

      Also, we will be including the EQ-i 2.0 assessment in the Emotional Intelligence for Leaders certificate program that’s being offered at the University of Tampa in May. The program also includes a discussion on CQ (Cultural Intelligence). More information can be found at the link below; http://www.societyofei.org/emotional-intelligence-and-leadership-certificate

      Hope this helps.

      Hank

  2. There is a particular guideline that one should draw from the concept of what could be 2 differential factions: emotion and intelligence.
    Emotions are neither right nor wrong, it is how one acts on it(the intelligence)EQ, that makes it so.
    There is a balancing of allowing yourself, as a manager, to give more credance and to assess correctly, to whether the feelings or the emotional temperament of those around us are more prevalant to the intelligence factor, in order to assume some resemblance of controls. Do you agree?

    • Thanks for sharing your perspective, Gary. I agree that emotions are neither right or wrong. People feel what they feel. It’s how they manage their emotions that takes awareness and often practice. Sometimes the most intelligent people are the least emotionally intelligent (e.g. the character of Sheldon on “The Big Bang Theory”), and sometimes the opposite is true. The good news is that managers can encourage their teams to develop their emotional intelligence.

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