Emotional Intelligence

While having a high IQ can bring a lot of merit to our careers, have you thought about how well your emotional intelligence or EQ would rate?

And while emotional intelligence may sound like another piece of jargon only used by those in certain lines of work, if you understand it, it can be useful for any work situation.

‘EQ’ describes a person’s ability or skill to identify, assess, manage and control their emotions. Career development and progression don’t always just fall in our laps. Usually, we need to strive for them. And while we can be quick to judge the environment and suggest the reason we aren’t promoted or seem stuck is because of things out of our control, we in fact need to be more aware of ourselves. How we behave and communicate is of direct impact to how others perceive us.

At The Business Group we believe the way we communicate with others is central to the levels of success we achieve and our EQ is a powerful tool that should be developed to improve career opportunities.

Since we all listen and process information differently, it is crucial to learn and become sensitive to others’ style of communication. This allows you to be proactive with your communication by aligning their style with your own and ensuring you become increasingly effective at communicating your point, listening and achieving the desired result faster.

Most of us are taught how to do our job. But we do not consider the way our energy, emotions and our reaction to stress and pressure may affect how competent we are.

While we are educated on the necessary action required to pursue our future careers, there are no lessons, only experiences, that train us to maintain optimism and focus during the many obstacles along the way.

So how do we know if we need to work on our emotional intelligence? Generally, if we are not getting what we want out of certain situations, we should check out our EQ.

There are many signs and symptoms for a low or neglected EQ.

While most of us already have EQ trait strengths, work orientated stress and neglecting our physical and emotional wellbeing means we are less likely to enforce them.

If you’re not healthy and growing within your personal life, if you’re not enthusiastic or interested in your work and if you’re not interacting positively with co-workers, the problem is very likely in you, and your EQ, could do with some recognition.

Realising you need to work on your emotional intelligence is the first step to creating better communication. Having a high self-awareness of your interaction style and how this affects your attitude, coping mechanisms and happiness are key factors to EQ improvement.

• Ask yourself; ‘Did I respect the other person’s point of view? Did I have a reaction to what they were saying that prevented me from listening to the full message?
• Did the other person feel heard and understood? Did I acknowledge them?

So if 2012 is the year that you are looking to make a step up, it may be that you need to look a bit deeper into yourself and see how you can develop your EQ.

EQ: Emotional intelligence describes the five elements of emotional intelligence.

1. Self-awareness. People with high EQ are highly aware of their emotions and responses as they occur and are able to recognise a feeling as it happens.
2. Managing emotions. People with a high EQ are able to manage their emotional response in order to achieve a desired outcome.
3. Motivating oneself. People with a high EQ channel their emotions in order to obtain a specific goal. They’re able to delay their gratification and stifle impulses that arise.
4. Empathy. People with a high EQ are often popular individuals as they effectively exhibit their empathy and sensitivity to people’s feelings.
5. Handling relationships. EQ allows individuals to represent themselves and effectively manipulate or control their social situations for a desired outcome.