Boost your Emotional Intelligence

Ever since Daniel Goleman’s seminal 1996 publication, Emotional Intelligence has been a hot topic within people management. 

With twenty years of further advancement of technology since then, the ability of humans to differentiate ourselves from machines in the workplace by being able to emote with customers and colleagues has become ever more sought after. 

Hence this topic featuring as one of our ten essential skills for the next decade.

So to recap, what is Emotional Intelligence and why is it an important part of the professional skill set?

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the capacity for understanding our own feelings and the feelings of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing our emotions effectively in our relationships.

Rather than being a single characteristic, emotional intelligence can be thought of as a wide set of competencies that are organized into a few major clusters.   The most widely accepted view of emotional intelligence identifies 20 competencies, which are in turn organised into four clusters: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Social Skills.

Emotional intelligence has a direct impact on work performance. Those with strong emotional intelligence are more likely to succeed than those with high IQ levels. Research at the Centre for Creative Leadership has shown that the primary cause of executive turnover was an individual deficiency in the area of emotional competence.

Additional studies show a strong correlation between how well an individual handles personal emotions and the willingness of others to work with that individual.   A leader with a positive mood and attitude tends to interact with others in a way that results in a positive, helpful, and cooperative workgroup, thereby increasing workplace efficiency.

Highly emotionally intelligent people typically exhibit the following behaviours:

1.       Relentless positivity

2.       Robust ability to explain their emotional state to others

3.       Assertive and able to set boundaries without offending others

4.       Curiosity about other people

5.       Feelings of happiness and worth are not based on the judgments of others

6.       Injection of fun and enjoyment into every day and stressful tasks

7.       Stamping on negativity

Melius upskills client teams emotional intelligence in each of these behaviours and competencies through practical workshops and activities that identify how highly-developed competence can benefit business performance. Get in touch with Melius to find out more about how this approach can benefit your business.