Desired skills by firms often change with the times and technology. What may have been needed to get ahead 20 years ago may no longer apply today and vice versa. One particular skill that has arisen lately is Emotional Intelligence (EI), a relatively modern concept fully developed in the mid 90’s.
Much like how we measure our IQ (Intelligence Quotient) to see how clever a person is, Emotional Intelligence works in a similar fashion, but it focuses on of an individual’s abilities to recognise and manage their emotions, and the emotions of other people, both individually and in groups.
EI is generally made up of 5 core components:
Self-awareness – the ability to recognise and understand your moods and emotions, and how they affect others
Self-regulation – the ability to control impulses and moods, and to think before acting
Internal (or intrinsic) motivation – being driven to pursue goals for personal reasons, rather than for some kind of reward (the opposite is external motivation)
Empathy – the ability to recognise and understand others’ motivations, which is essential for building and leading teams successfully
Social skills – the ability to manage relationships and build networks
Having a high level of emotional intelligence can help progress your career too as many employer’s value an employee’s EI over their IQ. It also helps employers assess an employee’s leadership potential.
Travis Bradberry, author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, said when writing for Forbes in 2014 that “Of all the people we’ve studied at work, we’ve found that 90% of top performers are also high in emotional intelligence. On the flip side, just 20% of bottom performers are high in emotional intelligence. You can be a top performer without emotional intelligence, but the chances are slim.”
Having a higher EI also indicates that an employee has a better ability to motivate themselves which improves their productivity, self confidence and ability to reach career goals. People with a high level of EI also typically show a more positive outlook on life and a can-do attitude. They are able to identify and empathise with other people’s opinions which is extremely useful for resolving workplace conflicts.
