EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

Why do some people possess greater emotional well-being?
Why are some better able to achieve success in life?
Why do some people with superior intellectual abilities seem to fail in life, while others with more modest gifts succeed?
And finally, why are the majority of issues confronting companies the results of faulty communication, of people’s inability to understand how they and others function, and of a failure to see matters from someone else’s perspective or grasp the impact of their own actions?

Because of lack of attention to those aspects of personality, emotion, cognition, and behaviour crucial to effective functioning, both in the workplace and in our personal lives. Skills at least as important as traditional cognitive skills when it comes to successfully coping with life’s demands.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EQ) DEFINITION

The set of emotional and social skills that inﬂuence the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an eﬀective and meaningful way is defined as Emotional Intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence has to do with our capacity to objectively assess our strengths, as well as be open to viewing and challenging our limitations, mistaken assumptions, unacknowledged biases, and shortsighted/self-defeating beliefs.

It also encompasses our ability to read the political and social environment, and landscape them; to intuitively grasp what others want and need, what their strengths and weaknesses are; to remain unruffled by stress; and to be engaging and the kind of person others want to be around.

EQ IS DYNAMIC

Emotional Intelligence isn’t aptitude, it isn’t achievement, it isn’t vocational interest, nor is it personality (the unique set of traits that help form a person’s characteristic, enduring, and dependable ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving). Like IQ, the traits which comprise our personalities are fixed. Psychologists call these traits “static” and personality tests are used to divide people into “types”.

Emotional Intelligence, however, is made up of short-term tactical dynamic skills which can be brought into play as the situation warrants, thus the individual building blocks of Emotional Intelligence—and its overall structure—can be improved by means of training, coaching, and experience.

Bar-On mapped Emotional Intelligence skills in an instrument which became known as the EQ-i, which stands for Emotional Quotient Inventory. He believed emotional intelligence was made up of a series of overlapping but distinctly different skills and attitudes which could be grouped under five general theme areas or “realms,” then further subdivided into 15 components or “scales.”

These skills form the building blocks of abilities such as communication, resilience, and time management, and can be mapped theoretically and empirically to job competencies, productivity, academic performance, and other measures of success to help predict and improve functioning.

For Example:

An executive’s goal is to improve his resiliency and innovation: these high-level functions can be nebulous and difficult to measure. However, if one looks at resiliency as a combination of Stress Management, Flexibility, and Optimism, and innovation as a combination of Problem Solving, Reality Testing, and Independence, one can begin to imagine very actionable steps to improve these executive competencies.

EQ-i 2.0 & EQ 360 2.0 REPORTS

For many years, the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i®) and the EQ 360® have been instrumental in helping individuals and organizations predict and improve human performance.

The EQ-i 2.0 and EQ 360 2.0 give you a rich and compelling view into the emotional and social functioning of individuals and groups. The EQ-i 2.0 provides a unique feedback experience for the respondent by quantitatively indicating emotional skills that need improvement. Detailed, visually impactful reports help give a balanced view of a person’s potential for succeeding in life. The available reports are:
• EQ-i 2.0 Workplace
• EQ-i 2.0 Leadership
• EQ 360 Workplace
• EQ 360 Leadership
• EQ-i 2.0 Group Report