How Emotionally Intelligent are you?
I had recently conducted a 2-day workshop on Emotional Intelligence for client in Oman. It’s not very often that people realise the importance of these “human skills” that separate great employees from average ones. However, this CEO knew what he was talking about.
As a Corporate trainer it’s heartening to see the leadership believe in the need for training their team. Very often I’m quickly sent off to the HR Department but in this case the CEO took his time to discuss what the need the of the hour was, and also wanted to know what I intended to cover as part of my training. After our 30-minute meeting it was easy to see that this gentleman was clearly “emotionally intelligent”, and he wanted to develop similar skills across his team.
Here are a few snippets from the training that perhaps would add value to your daily life and work.
What is Emotional Intelligence (EI)?
Introduced by Salovey and Mayer (1990), EI is defined as “an ability to monitor one’s own and others’ emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions.”
However, it was Daniel Goleman’s book “Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more that IQ” that made the concept a hot topic since 1995.
He identified five elements that make up emotional intelligence.
- Self-awareness-This means thoroughly understanding yourself and your effect on others.
- Self-regulation- This means controlling disruptive impulses—and thinking before acting.
- Motivation- Motivated people are driven to achieve beyond expectations. This isn’t for money or status—it’s a deep internal desire.
- Empathy- empathetic people read between the lines of what’s said
- Social skills- This isn’t simply friendliness—it’s friendliness with a purpose.
Another model of EI is the ‘The Emotional and Social Intelligence Leadership Competency Model’. Developed by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis, this model has 4 domains and 12 competencies of Emotional Intelligence (EI).
As you can see EI is not just about being sweet and cheerful. There is a whole lot more to it. In order to, truly use your EI to your advantage at work you need to develop your EI competencies across the whole spectrum.
Meaning, not only do you need to work on your self-awareness and having a positive outlook, you also need to have a strong achievement orientation, be able to manage conflict, be able to inspire, mentor etc.
As you can see being Emotionally Intelligent requires development over a wide range of competencies.
What are the benefits of improving your Emotional Intelligence?
EQ is positively correlated with:
- Leadership
- Job performance
- Job satisfaction
- Happiness
- Well-being (both physical and emotional)
Developing a strong, well-balanced EQ (Emotional Quotient) has several benefits at the workplace:
Can your EQ be improved?
Yes, indeed it can!
- Your level of EQ is firm, but not rigid
- EQ is a combination of personality traits,largely inherited, shaped by childhood experience
- Good coaching programs do work
What are the pitfalls if your Emotional Intelligence is too high?
If your EQ is too high, it could lead to a host of other issues like:
Why do you need to work on your EI?
- It’s been scientifically proven that Emotional Intelligence skills matter more than IQ or technical skills in leaders.
- The best leaders have high emotional intelligence
- Emotionally intelligent leaders boost the bottom line
So, what next?
As you can see EQ plays a great role in one’s career and personal life.
- The first step in learning more about anything is to gain insight and awareness.
- The next step is an assessment to understand where you stand currently.
- Hire a coach or trainer to help you work on your improvement areas.
To know more email us on info@ascendconsulting.me or call us on 00968-72220950 to book a trainer or a coach.
