What is emotional intelligence?

CEOs are hired for their intellect and business expertise - and fired for a lack of emotional intelligence. Daniel Goleman

Research shows that for jobs of all kinds, emotional intelligence is twice as important an ingredient of outstanding performance as cognitive ability and technical skill combined, writes psychologist and subject matter expert, Daniel Goleman.

He writes in Harvard Business Review that ‘emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 90 percent of what sets high performers apart from peers with similar technical skills and knowledge.’

It’s obvious from this that emotional intelligence is a vital skill for leadership effectiveness. Emotional Intelligence helps leaders to better:

➕ Communicate

➕ Collaborate

➕ Empathize

➕ Motivate

➕ Build strong relationships with their team and others

➕ Decrease stress

➕ Improve company culture

➕ Enhance productivity and engagement. (Centre for Creative leadership)

Here are the four key components of emotional intelligence at work:

⚠ Self-awareness: knowing why you react with certain emotions to a person or situation, what you are naturally great at and where you need to really work on yourself, what drives and energises you

⚠ Self-management: How you, with the insights gained about yourself, manage yourself and therefore the impact you have on others

⚠ Social awareness: This is all about picking up the mood in the room or a team, hearing what’s really going on

⚠ Relationship management: How do you get along with others, handle conflict and increase your sensitivity to others

Thankfully, emotional intelligence is something we can learn, improve and expand on through training, self-reflection and coaching.