Employment Expertise: Emotional Intelligence–Why It’s Important and How to Improve It

By West Michigan Works!

Emotional Intelligence, also known as EQ, is a major indicator of success—even more than IQ, which looks at traditional intelligence. Studies have shown that 90% of top performing employees have high EQ. In fact, as EQ increases, so does average annual salary.

So, what is EQ?

EQ consists of two components—personal and social competence.

Personal Competence—your ability to recognize your emotions and use this self-awareness to manage your thoughts and actions.

Social Competence—your ability to recognize emotions in others and use this understanding to successfully manage your relationships and interactions.

Emotional Intelligence is tied to soft skills that employers are looking for, such as customer service, communication, team work, decision making and time management.

Here are five tips to help you improve your EQ:

Decrease negativity. It is easy to jump to negative conclusions when you don’t understand how others behave. For example, if your boss doesn’t greet you with a friendly “hello,” like usual one morning, don’t assume you did something wrong. He or she may be up against a deadline or distracted by other issues. Don’t make it about you; try to understand where they are coming from.
Take responsibility. Everyone makes mistakes and being able to admit it is a sign of emotional intelligence. When you make a mistake, look for ways to make things right instead of placing blame or making excuses.
Stay calm. Next time you find yourself in a stressful situation, take note of how you feel and how you react. If you find yourself lashing out, take a deep breath and count to ten. This can help you calm down and deal with the problem more effectively.’
Learn about you. Pay attention to how you react to different emotions. You can even take an assessment to find your strengths and weaknesses. This information can help you become more aware of your emotions and strengthen your interactions with others.
Be brave. The next time you’re faced with a challenging emotional situation, be willing to have a difficult conversation. It is important to respond respectfully to others and also create healthy boundaries for yourself. Try using the XYZ method to discuss your emotions, “I feel X when you do Y in situation Z.”