Emotional intelligence in the workplace

Emotional intelligence (EI), as the name explains, is a combination of both emotions and intelligence. Emotional intelligence is explained as the ability to perceive and deal with emotions in yourself and others. Besides perceiving emotions, emotional intelligence includes stress management, resilience, empathy, motivation, conflict management etc.

The main 5 factors of emotional intelligence are:

1. Self-awareness
2. Self-control
3. Empathy
4. Motivation
5. Social skills

Because of its importance, a lot of employers are more focused on EQ than IQ. It is important to distinguish emotional intelligence from IQ because EI can be learnt. Also, it does not mean that the person with a high IQ will be successful in their job.

How to recognize a person with developed EI?

People whose EI is developed can perceive their own and other people’s emotions, needs and wishes. They show greater empathy and self-awareness, are better at regulating their emotions, are often positive and optimistic and have a more positive impact on themselves and others. Also, they are better at leading people, they adapt easily to new people and new situations and have a better ability to communicate and maintain relationships with other people.

Contrary to those with developed EI, people with a lower score of EI can be recognized by having more conflicts, their mood is unstable, they often criticize other people, but cannot receive any kind of critic, they are not adaptable neither to people nor situations, and they give up easily.

Why is it more important to hire a highly emotionally intelligent individual rather than someone with a high IQ score?

The importance of EI in the workplace is seen in almost all professions. Even though the experience and the knowledge are both very important for getting the job, it is crucial to highlight that one can only become the perfect employee by having all 5 factors of emotional intelligence. As every job is best learned through work, a person must be open to new knowledge, persistent, self-motivated and good in communication with colleagues.

One example of why it is important to hire highly emotionally intelligent people is instinctive problem-solving. That instinct arises from the emotions that each person carries within themselves and determines what decision a person will make. Instinct stems from emotional information that tells us what is important to us in a situation, previous experiences that suggest to us what might go wrong or what doesn’t seem good.