Emotional Intelligence and your career – How EQ is the new IQ!
It’s not often we talk about emotional intelligence, or EQ, in the workplace. We often think of IQ as being more important. After all, those two little letters together can demonstrate how smart we really are, right? Well, to be frank, IQ would be nothing without EQ. How many geniuses do you know that are the perfect Oxford definition of awkward? I bet you can think of a handful, am I right? Emotional intelligence measures how you relate to people and how you handle stress in the workplace. The higher the EQ, the better you’re able to deal with your emotions. Is this making sense so far?
Good to hear because studies have shown that 67% of assets found essential to any job are directly correlated to emotional intelligence. Additionally, leaders who have higher scores in EQ are usually more profitable and bring more money into the business as well as their pockets. Furthermore, it’s been shown that EQ can matter up to twice as much as IQ and another study found higher emotional intelligence set employees aside 44% more often than their IQ counterparts, meaning they were recognized more often for their work and ability to perform better under whatever the workplace may bring. I know I like all of these things so far. So how do we work on our EQ? After all, stress is a fundamental part of the workplace as are maintaining some form of relationship with our coworkers. Is it avoidable?
Like with anything, working on our EQ, stress, and all the related parts of it, is a life-long process. But in doing so, there are several benefits that will roll over to several parts of your life. And in ways you wouldn’t expect. Examples include but are not limited to being able to influence others, self-motivate, maintain under pressure, what to say at every given moment, and so many more things. As is evident with these examples, EQ translates well into how we relate to others and how we interact on a daily basis. Chances are, the people you like hanging with have a higher EQ than. say, the genius in the corner who never seems to be able to hold his cool in the kitchen.
But how does EQ affect our work relationships, especially those with our superiors and have a significant influence over our performance reviews? Well, a high EQ shows an ability to take responsibility for all actions, able to hear and implement feedback, and more. On the flip side, a low EQ can indicate a knack for blaming others, passive aggression, victim blaming, and more. It is evident our level of emotional intelligence is becoming a larger part of our lives, and in more ways than just relating to our careers or our paychecks. It is evident we need to discuss this more as well as how to handle it if we need to increase it.
It’s clear that we live in a world that relies on more than just intelligence and that networking is playing a bigger role in the cubicle world than many ever could have imagined. Emotional intelligence is becoming more and more important, maybe even more so than our intellect. And it may just be about time to highlight it as a place to work on more so, because after all, we can work on our connections and our ability to do so far easier than our IQ score. Because after all, what would this world be without some connections and a little bit of fun along the way? Emotional intelligence can bring us that and we can reap the benefits over time.
This article is based on an infographic created by the Brighton School of Business and Management.
