Emotional Quotient (EI): Trait Theory

Below is an excerpt of a collaborative article completed in a course of business communications. The portion below is my work with relevant articles cited. The full article, including references, can be viewed under My Experience.

The third component is regarding social awareness, commonly known as empathy. The common phrase, “reading the room,” takes on a new meaning when an individual’s purpose is to understand others’ emotions. Thus, encouraging appropriate behavior. Business is full of team tasks. Therefore, developing a relationship with other team members can create synergy. Teams with synergy work better together. Different talents being brought together to achieve a common goal create results that an individual would not be able to produce alone. This requires being motivated, the fourth element of emotional intelligence. Sharing the drive toward achievement in a group keeps all team members committed to the same objective. Individual members having the personal motivation to come together as a team to motivate one another to maintain a commitment to the final product. When individuals take the initiative to stay focused and motivated, the team succeeds. The final component is social regulation or social skills. This is communicating effectively by “. . .identifying and resolving conflicts [through] leading by example and giving praise to others when earned” (Corporate Finance Institute, 2020). Moving a group with words is something that every leader needs to be able to do, especially when trying to motivate a group behind the same values as one does when running a business. These components each hold their own significance in the business world, and it is important that each is utilized when pursuing success.

The Skills of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is used in business practices to help improve workplace relationships. Emotional intelligence has different aspects, components, and attributes associated with it. The way John Mayer and Peter Salovey described emotional intelligence is when a “. . . person is skilled in four areas: identifying emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions” (Moore, 2020). Thus, emotional intelligence is an essential skill set. To better understand your emotional skills, the first step to take is to familiarize yourself with the four basic components of emotional intelligence. They go hand in hand with each skill. Not everyone is gifted but can learn these skill sets. This is proven in businesses and personal lives around the world. It is believed that “[o]ur Emotional Intelligence skills are. . .huge contributors to our overall success in life, due to their influence on our ability to self-manage and motivate” (Moore, 2020). Current generations acknowledge emotional intelligence as a key to being an accomplishment in terms of one's personal success. Furthermore, emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills, and social skills are all considered the same in terms of skill. These are commonly classified as soft skills. In retrospect, can we argue that a person learns or acquires emotional intelligence skills? Yes, they can. Since emotional intelligence is a soft skill, this can be easily applied to acquire with work, motivation, and- at times- therapy. Emotional intelligence is people skills. Anyone can learn to use these skills if he or she so desires. Emotional intelligence skills help improve both professional and workplace relationships. We navigate some areas regarding how emotional intelligence comes into play. First, listening to others; is a skill that has faded away. Second, facilitating thought. Although speculative, we consider this: 5 Daniel is a parking inspector, and his job, unfortunately, means that sometimes people return to their cars to find him printing out a ticket. Over the years, he’s learned that an authoritative, “only doing my job” attitude tends to provoke negative reactions from drivers. Often, these lead to complaints about his performance. (Moore, 2019) Simply, it is the way a person approaches another. This can also be looked at in a customer or co-worker interaction. Another area to consider is understanding the different perspectives. Oftentimes, people have a one-track mind. They will not listen or attempt to understand the other point of view. Developing these skills can greatly improve life around the workplace and home too.

Leadership Emotional intelligence (EI) is extremely important for leaders because their focus is on leading people. At the upper levels of an organization, leaders must display EI skills because their decisions impact not just themselves, but the entire organization. It is important to note that EI involves managing the emotions belonging to oneself and others. From a leadership standpoint, leaders must recognize, understand, and manage their emotions as well as those of their subordinates. When conflicts arise in the workplace, leaders with EI skills are more prepared to handle situations and find appropriate solutions. Being able to peacefully resolve conflicts and tensions will allow teams to thrive. Leaders that possess EI can benefit twofold. In addition to finding creative and positive ways to handle emotional complexities in teams and the workplace, they are also able to use their social skills to effectively work with others. Since EI starts with the self-awareness competency, leaders can improve their awareness in the following two ways. First, they can keep a journal to annotate their emotions and how they feel in situations. Doing so will allow them to keep a record of how they feel and do some self-reflection, which will help increase awareness. A second method is to slow down. Leaders that take a moment to stop what they are doing to examine their emotions will understand them and make better decisions. In terms of the self-management competency of EI, leaders with it are better at achieving goals and adjusting to situations. Today’s leaders must be achievement-oriented if they are to be Figure 5: Leaders Solving Problems 7 competitive and reach success in their organization. Equally vital, leaders must be adaptable to ever-changing circumstances. When taking a closer look at the success of an organization, a hint of its success can be gleaned by evaluating the EI of its leaders. In the social-awareness quadrant, leaders are empathetic and have organizational awareness. Empathy is crucial to business because leaders must be able to sense others’ feelings and perspectives to lead more effectively. Empathy lets leaders place themselves in other people’s shoes and make better decisions to suit others’ needs. Leaders that pay special attention to body language can visually recognize how others feel and ensure their own body language does not come across as confrontational. The final quadrant is centered around relationship management. Leaders take on many roles in their organizations, including coaching and mentoring, managing conflict, influencing others, providing inspirational leadership, and leading teams. Leaders can apply their EI skills when they channel them into how they interact with others, such as in the above-mentioned ways. People desire leaders that can provide coaching and mentoring to help them develop professionally.