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Forget I.Q.: What's Your Emotional Intelligence?
No matter the I.Q., what's your E.Q.?
Featured Author:
Kerrie Halmi
Kerrie Halmi of Halmi Performance Consulting specializes in increasing women’s success in business through speaking, coaching and facilitation. Kerrie has over fifteen years of experience in the Human Resources field with such clients as eBay, Bank of America and Kaiser. She received her MBA from the University of Michigan and is certified in coaching with Corporate Coach University International.
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Kerrie Halmi | WomenCo.
May 02, 2008
How does emotional intelligence – also known as E.Q. – relate to how well you manage people and your career?
The term, coined in the early 1980s, includes self-awareness and self regulation, motivation, relationship building and social skills, such as reading people. In summary, it is how to understand and work productively with your own emotions and others emotions in a positive way.
The implication for leaders and managers is that your E.Q. has a big impact on your success with managing people. Studies compared average managers to star performers. Nearly 90 percent of the difference in their profiles was attributable to emotional intelligence factors rather than cognitive abilities. Managers need to look for people with emotional intelligence for your team, as they will be more successful in the work environment.
Emotional intelligence is both innate and learned. It can be increased continually. How do we increase it?
The process is an “inside-out job”. The first aspect is to become more self-aware. One of the most valid and reliable tools to become more self-aware is the Meyers-Briggs Temperament Indicator (MBTI). The greatest learning from doing an MBTI with your work team is the understanding of why people approach things differently and how each person can “flex” their style a little to work better with others.
After increasing your self-awareness, start learning and practicing new behaviors that help you handle relationships more effectively. This can be done through conscientiously learning from experience, reading on the subject, training, coaching and listening to feedback.
Specific behaviors include: pay more attention to your people and what they need—ask them if you don’t know; learn how to become more comfortable with ambiguity through talking with those who have succeeded in change and practice being more optimistic even in the face of failure by noticing how you communicate in those circumstances.
Taking the time and effort to increase your emotional intelligence will pay off in terms of your job success and the success of your team.
