About 90% of our professional success is based on how well we relate to people, how we work in teams, and how we handle ourselves on a day-to-day basis. The importance of intelligence cannot be understated. However, it is our emotional ability or how we relate to others around us (with clients, with support staff, with colleagues, with subordinates, and with senior managers) that makes the difference between getting the intended result or going nowhere really fast. An employee's ability to adapt his/her emotional response will always result in more effective results for the organization.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Would you like a life whereby you could solve most of the problems that come on your plate each day?
- Would you like a life whereby you could have very enjoyable relationships with family, friends and colleagues?
- Would you like a life whereby you wake up each day excited about what lies ahead of you?
- Would you like a life whereby you are more or less content with what's happening in your daily comings-and-goings?
It is a safe bet that almost all of us would answer an emphatic "Yes!" to all of these.
N.B.: The following table is taken from “Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: An Interview with Dr. Michael Rock”, July 2004, at canadaone.com .
The EQ-i : Practical Emotional Architecture | ||
FACTOR | COMPETENCY DESCRIPTION | WORKPLACE BENEFIT |
CORE FACTORS | ||
EMOTIONAL SELF-AWARENESS | Recognize and understand one's feelings and emotions, differentiate between them, know what caused them and why. | Promotes successful resolution and leads to improved interaction among staff. |
EMPATHY | Be attentive to, understand and appreciate the feelings of others, able to emotionally read other people. | Understands duties and demands being placed on colleagues creates cohesive functioning; understanding others viewpoints helps make one a team player. |
ASSERTIVENESS | Express feelings, beliefs, and thoughts and defend one's rights in a nondestructive way. | Helps individuals to work more cohesively and share ideas effectively; integral to leadership. |
REALITY TESTING | Assess the correspondence between what is experienced (the subjective) and what in reality exists (the objective). | Focuses on practicality and not on unrealistic expectations. |
IMPULSE CONTROL | Resist or deny an impulse, drive, or temptation to act. | Knows rash actions can be costly; often avoids mistakes by simply taking time to stop and think. |
Flexibility | Adjust one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviour to changing situations and conditions. | High : perform better in positions where tasks are dynamic and changing. Low: perform better at more defined tasks requiring reliability and consistency. |
SUPPORTING FACTORS | ||
Self-Regard | Look at and understand oneself, respect and accept oneself, accepting one's perceived positive and negative aspects as well as one's limitations and possibilities. | Builds better work attitudes and behaviours; better self-confidence leading to better performance. |
Independence | Self-reliant and self-directed in one's thinking and actions; free of emotional dependency; may ask for and consider advice of others, but rarely depend on others for important decisions or to do things for them. | People thinking for themselves, yet still listening to and utilizing ideas from others when appropriate. |
Social Responsibility | Demonstrate oneself as a co-operative, contributing, and constructive member of one's social group. | Contributing to recognized departmental and company goals; being aware of the greater good you and your group can contribute to society as a whole. |
Optimism | Look at the brighter side of life and to maintain a positive attitude, even in the face of adversity. | Self-fulfilling prophecy: staff believing something is possible; often make it happen; optimistic attitude that wards off stress. |
Stress Tolerance | Withstand adverse events and stressful situations without falling apart by actively and confidently coping with stress. | Managing reasonable workloads, establishing clear priorities, and meeting realistic deadlines. |
PIVOTAL FACTORS | ||
Problem Solving | Identify and define problems, generate and implement potentially effective solutions. | Create viable alternative solutions, including a cost/benefit analysis / long-term implications. |
Interpersonal Relationship | Establish and maintain mutually satisfying relationships that are characterized by intimacy and giving and receiving affection. | Effective communication within and between departments. |
Self-Actualization | Realize one's potential capacities and to strive to do that which one wants to do and enjoys doing. | Motivate, optimize individual / team performance; bringing more life experience to the job. |
Happiness | Feel satisfied with one's life, to enjoy oneself and being with others, and to have fun. | Lifts spirits / overall performance. |
Referring to the above table, all those things we want from life and from our work are the Pivotal or Resulting EQ factors: Problem Solving, Interpersonal Relationships, Self-Actualization, and Happiness. In order to get these resulting factors, we need to have the appropriate Core and Supporting factors in place. This works in reverse as well. For example, a manager cannot expect to have harmonious, happy, communicative, problem-solving employees without them have the necessary Core and Supporting factors. With each work goal, such a manger will have unexpected results almost every time! And, of course, the employees will not be very happy most of the time either.
Just like everything in life, the more we use our emotional capabilities, the better we become at using them; this translates into increased benefits which make our lives easier to manage and more enjoyable. As the table above shows, it all starts with self-awareness; all other Emotional Intelligence factors are built on the foundation of knowing yourself. Today's workplace is constantly changing and this pervasive instability places increasing demands on employees. By developing our emotional intelligence, we not only enhance its effectiveness in the workplace, we also become happier and more productive employees. Ultimately, the workplace benefits, and in turn, this generates added benefits for everyone, in what becomes a symbiotic healthy relationship between the employee and the workplace. Who could ask for anything more?
Happy Job Hunting!
Len Grady
