Focusing on Emotional Intelligence: How Organizations can Benefit
You have probably heard the term “emotional intelligence” (also known as EQ), but wondered what exactly does it mean? You may have also wondered why you should care about it, particularly in the workplace where we should be controlling our emotions and acting in a professional, rational manner. It turns out that, whether we realize it or not, many of us are already familiar with the concept of EQ, and there are multiple reasons why we should care about it, especially in the workplace.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Over 25 years ago, in his ground-breaking work, Emotional Intelligence – Why It Can Matter More than IQ, Daniel Goleman defined emotional intelligence as “the ability to identify, assess and control one’s own emotions, the emotions of others and that of groups.”¹ EQ is therefore all about being able to look inwardly to notice and manage one’s own emotions. It is also about looking outwards and being able to notice others’ emotions and use this to interact effectively with a wide range of people.
There are numerous EQ models out there, but one based on Goleman’s work and currently used by Target Training International (providers of the Emotional Quotient® Report used by Moser Consulting) includes the following five dimensions:
Self-Awareness: the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, drives as well as their effect on others.
Self-Regulation: the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods and the propensity to suspend judgment and think before acting.
Motivation: a passion to work for reasons that go beyond external drivers and are based on a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence.
Social Awareness: the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people and how your words and actions affect others (also known as empathy).
Social Regulation: the ability to influence the emotional makeup of others through managing relationships and building networks.
Whether you have used these terms or not, we are all familiar with toddlers who seem to be just a bundle of emotions. They typically have no idea where their emotions are coming from (self-awareness), they are unable to manage those emotions (self-regulation), they think the world revolves around them and they certainly have no concept of sharing (social awareness and social regulation). Fortunately, most of us evolve from this state as we mature and learn to use our emotions more effectively. In fact, we can continue to grow our EQ abilities well into our sixties and seventies, if we work at it. However, what has this got to do with the workplace?
Why is Emotional Intelligence Important in the Workplace?
As part of his ground-breaking work, Goleman studied successful people in nearly 200 large, global companies. He found that when he calculated the ratio of technical skills, IQ, and emotional intelligence as ingredients of excellent performance, emotional intelligence proved to be twice as important as the others for jobs at all levels. ² This is not to say that technical skills, grade point averages, and IQs are not important because they are often what help get us hired into organizations. However, they are not what help make us be successful in the long run.
Indeed, the Center for Creative Leadership (a global leadership development group based in Greensboro, North Carolina) has found that “75% of careers are derailed for reasons related to emotional competencies, including the inability to handle interpersonal problems; unsatisfactory team leadership during times of difficulty or conflict; or inability to adapt to change or elicit trust”. ³ So, these emotional intelligence factors can be the very things that prevent us from having successful careers.
No doubt, many of us can think of examples of very smart, highly skilled individuals who failed in the workplace because of frequent emotional outbursts or poor interpersonal skills. How much more might they have contributed, if only they had been able to develop their EQ skills?
Why is Emotional Intelligence Important for Leaders?
EQ seems to matter even more for leaders. In a 2004 article for the Harvard Business Review, Goleman shared that “when I compared star performers with average ones in senior leadership positions, 90% of the difference in their profiles was attributable to emotional intelligence factors rather than cognitive abilities.”4 A more recent Harvard Business Review study in 2022 further confirmed this by saying that “landing a job as a CEO today is no longer all about industry expertise and financial savvy. What companies are really seeking are leaders with strong social skills … leaders that are adept communicators, relationship builders and people-oriented problem solvers”. 5 In other words, the higher up you climb the ladder of any organization, the more these “soft skills” seem to matter. Just think about the best bosses you have ever had. What was it that made them different? Was it their technical skills and cognitive abilities or was it something else? When I have asked this question in workshops over the years, the so-called soft skills such as being a visionary, compassionate, empathetic, courageous, or collaborative have been mentioned much of the time. Technical or cognitive skills rarely come up.
What are the Implications?
As we think about the collaborative, matrixed work environments in which we now find ourselves (where individuals rarely work alone), it becomes clear why EQ skills might matter. Add to this the challenges of leading teams in a volatile and uncertain world and you can see why EQ might matter even more than ever.
Six Seconds (a leading provider of emotional intelligence resources and programing) has reported that organizations that prioritize emotional intelligence are 22 times as likely to be high performing.6 They go on to share that across industries and company sizes, research links EQ to:
Better business outcomes
Higher employee engagement
Lower turnover
Lower absenteeism
Greater profitability
For those organizations wanting to succeed in a post-pandemic world, the evidence indicates that taking a closer look at developing emotional intelligence across the boards (but particularly within leadership teams) would be time well spent.
Note: If you are interested in learning more about emotional intelligence and how it might benefit your organization, please contact Charity Surface at Moser Learning Services.
Footnotes:
Goleman, Daniel (1995). Emotional Intelligence – Why It Can Matter More than IQ
Goleman, Daniel (1995). Emotional Intelligence – Why It Can Matter More than IQ
Pontefract, D. (2022, Nov 12). https://www.forbes.com/sites/danpontefract/2022/11/12/is-emotional-intelligence-the-number-one-indicator-of-a-good-leader/?sh=7b61bd2b4c02
Forbes Newsletter (Leadership/Leadership Strategy)
Goldman, D. (1998). https://hbr.org/2004/01/what-makes-a-leader Harvard Business Review.
Sadun, R., Fuller, J., Hansen, S., and Neal, P.J. (2022 July – August). https://hbr.org/2022/07/the-c-suite-skills-that-matter-most. Harvard Business Review.
Six Seconds (2017). 2017 Workplace Vitality Report. https://www.6seconds.org/2017/10/16/new-research-eq-performance/
