Emotional Intelligence
When employers recruit leaders into their business, they may well hire on the basis of intelligence (‘IQ’) since the ability of an individual to solve problems is considered a key requirement. In addition to a personal interview, use may also be made of what’s known as a ‘Cognitive Skills Assessment’ or mini-IQ test which compares an individual’s responses to a defined set of questions against a general population based on verbal and numerical literacy as well as what’s known as ‘abstract reasoning’. However, when it comes to being effective in a leadership role and/or advancement within a business, there is an increasingly common belief that Emotional Intelligence (‘EQ’) is a more essential characteristic. As Dr Stephen Cover noted in his book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’:
“Research shows convincingly that EQ is more important than IQ in almost every role and many times more important in leadership roles.”
So what exactly is ‘Emotional Intelligence’? According to Peter Salovey and John Mayer (see https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.385.4383&rep=rep1&type=pdf), this is:
“The ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions.”
In practice, the ability to perceive and regulate your own emotions as well as understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others has four different levels:
Perceiving emotions: This involves not only being able to accurately understand the words and actions of others, it also includes the ability to pick up on nonverbal signals such as body language and facial expressions.
Reasoning with emotions: This is recognising how our emotions influence our thinking and actions, and knowing that how we feel affects how we process received information.
Understanding emotions: This refers to our ability to interpret and understand the emotions of others and is an initial and integral part of relationship management. People with high emotional intelligence can pick up on what is not being said as well as what is.
Managing emotions: While understanding others’ emotions clearly matters, how we regulate and respond to our own emotions is the other key component of relationship management.
Science is somewhat split about whether IQ and EQ can be improved, but there is some evidence (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0224254) to suggest that you can increase your EQ level. Key to this are the following aspects:
Development of active listening skills, i.e. hearing as well as perceiving what is being said (the message behind the words)
The ability to empathise (i.e. put yourself in the other person’s shoes) to demonstrate your understanding of how they are feeling and
Reflecting on how your own emotions influence your decisions and behaviours and being able to adapt accordingly.
Ian Ash ACC, AInstIB
Managing Director OrgMent Talent Solutions - ianash@ombs.com.au