If you could improve the emotional intelligence of you or your team, what would that mean to you professionally? Personally? For your organization?
The next two months I’m leading the Assessments for Coaching class at Coach University.
Students are assigned an assessment to research: MBTI, DISC, Motivators, Strong Inventory, and 360’s to name a few. They present their findings to the class followed up with a group discussion.
One of the most interesting assessments is Emotional Intelligence. In a nutshell, EI is the understanding and the awareness of your own emotions, understanding the emotions of others, and the ability to blend the two to be a better communicator, leader, etc. and have overall enriching relationships.
Dan Goleman, psychologist and science journalist, wrote the best selling book Emotional Intelligence (1995, Bantam Books.) His research revealed IQ predicts only 6%-10% of career success. While the most successful people had a high Emotional Quotient (EQ), also known as Emotional Intelligence (EI.)
I remember watching a video clip where Goleman describes an intelligent student he knew in his freshman year at college. This classmate aced their SAT exam however they had in issue. He slept until noon. He never went to school. It took him eight years to finish his degree. Goleman goes on to say GMAT scores have no correlation with how successful you’ll be in life. It simply predicts how well you’ll do the first year in school.
On Goleman’s 20th high school reunion, the most successful person wasn’t the person with the highest SAT scores nor the valedictorian. The person who experienced the most success was an outstanding human being. They listened to you several layers deeper, making you feel like you were the only person in the room. In his presence you felt he genuinely cared. He made you feel comfortable.
Twenty years later this gentleman was the Senior VP for a TV cable company. At Goleman’s 40th reunion, the same executive was sitting in the CEO chair leading his own TV cable company.
How well do you deal with others? Can you read other people? Are you a good team player? How do you manage yourself? Are you self aware? How adaptable are you? Can you be a leader? All of this is dependent on Emotional Intelligence EI.
I agree with Daniel Goleman. The most successful people possess the highest Emotional Intelligence. They know what to say, what not to say, how to say it, when to say it, etc.
Individuals with high Emotional Intelligence have better career advancement, are more competent leaders, consistently crush their sales quotas, and have healthier personal and professional relationships.
Organizations with high Emotional Intelligence increase productivity, decrease employee turnover, increase in morale, all of which boosts the bottom line.
The good news is emotional intelligence can be learned and improved. More about this later in a future post.
What about you? Your team? Would you like to improve your emotional intelligence? A good first step would be to to measure your EI.
End Game Business works with clients in a half dozen countries. We will administer an assessment that measures your ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions to facilitate high levels of collaboration and productivity.
Excellent post. I’ve also been giving a lot of thought lately to the emotional intelligence of organizations as it correlates to success. What behaviors do certain cultures value and encourage and what’s the impact on productivity etc. Is there an cultural assessment that goes along with his theory as well?
Well, I have a service called a Job Benchmark. Search my blog to find many articles.
A Job Benchmark says if the job could talk, what kind of person would be ideal in relations to behaviors, values, competencies, organizational cultural fit, etc.