Welcome to the first in a series of Emotional Intelligence focussed content.
It’s true to say that the last few years have been a roller coaster of emotions. One resulting positive that has come out of the pandemic is a greater appreciation of human make-up. We are emotive creatures who thrive on connection with others and I believe we have definitely become more tolerant and understanding of each other.
We’ve learned that we need to recognise, understand and manage emotions when faced with change and adversity.
We need to choose behaviours that will ensure the performance and achievement for ourselves and our team members.
We need to choose practices and strategies that maintain a successful working culture, that value the contribution of all and put the wellbeing of ourselves and our team centre stage (on that note head to our webpage here detailing newly released dates for our Mental Health First Aid training).
Emotional Intelligence has most definitely risen in rank as a result of the pandemic. No longer a “nice to have”, it takes its status as an essential skill to ensure you can lead yourself and others.
So, let’s consider what Emotional Intelligence is.
Emotional Intelligence : What is it?
Emotional Intelligence (abbreviated to EI) or Emotional Quotient (abbreviated to EQ) is a term popularised in a book published in 1995 by Daniel Goleman who claims it is “an ingredient of life’s success”.
According to Wikepedia Emotional Intelligence is “the capability of individuals to recognise their own and other’s emotions, to discriminate between feelings and label them appropriately and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour”.
American leadership guru and author Warren G Bennis claims “Emotional Intelligence more than any other factor, more than IQ or expertise, accounts for 85% to 90% of success at work. IQ is a threshold competence. You need it, but it doesn’t make you a star. Emotional Intelligence can”.
Emotional Intelligence is made up of 5 domains – Self Awareness, Self Regulation, Motivation, Social Skills and Empathy.
I’ll be honing in on these over the next few Lunch N Learn issues and providing you with some practical learning to ensure you can heighten and develop your own Emotional Intelligence.
