If you’ve heard a lot about emotional intelligence but you’re not sure what the hype is, or if you know what it is but doesn’t see how it really applies in the workplace, you’ve come to the right place.
In this piece, we’ll define emotional intelligence in the context of the workplace, describe its components, explore its correlates in the workplace, and look at how to improve it for both individual employees (including yourself) and the organization as a whole.
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional Intelligence refers to the capacity to recognize and manage our own feelings and to recognize and respond effectively to those of others.
There are various theorists who have developed different models of emotional intelligence. They are very similar but have a few variations in how they are structured. For the purposes of these lessons, we have chosen to use Daniel Goleman’s model with four domains: selfawareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. This was originally developed in 1998 with five domains and redesigned in 2002 with four domains.
As a manager, you can apply emotional intelligence to achieve self-awareness, objectivity and equality, all in the name of improving results, workplace culture and employee fulfilment.
10% of conflict is due to the difference in opinion and 90% is due to the delivery and tone of voice.
Goleman breaks down EQ into five components:
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Motivation
- Empathy
- Social skills
The 5 Components of Emotional Intelligence
Goleman broadened Mayer’s and Salovey’s four-branch system to incorporate five essential elements of emotional intelligence — or EQ, the shorthand he sometimes uses:
Emotional self-awareness — knowing what one is feeling at any given time and understanding the impact those moods have on others
Self-regulation — controlling or redirecting one’s emotions; anticipating consequences before acting on impulse
Motivation — utilizing emotional factors to achieve goals, enjoy the learning process and persevere in the face of obstacles
Empathy — sensing the emotions of others
Social skills — managing relationships, inspiring others and inducing desired responses from them
1. Self-awareness
Self-awareness refers to the capacity to recognize and understand emotions and to have a sense of how one’s actions, moods and the emotions of others take effect.
It involves keeping track of emotions and noticing different emotional reactions, as well as being able to identify the emotions correctly.
Self-awareness also includes recognizing that how we feel and what we do are related, and having awareness of one’s own personal strengths and limitations.
Self-awareness is associated with being open to different experiences and new ideas and learning from social interactions.
2. Self-regulation
This aspect of EI involves the appropriate expression of emotion.
Self-regulation includes being flexible, coping with change, and managing conflict. It also refers to diffusing difficult or tense situations and being aware of how one’s actions affect others and take ownership of these actions.
3. Social skills
This component of EI refers to interacting well with other people. It involves applying an understanding of the emotions of ourselves and others to communicate and interact with others on a day-to-day basis.
Different social skills include – active listening, verbal communication skills, non-verbal communication skills, leadership, and developing rapport.
4. Empathy
Empathy refers to being able to understand how other people are feeling.
This component of EI enables an individual to respond appropriately to other people based on recognizing their emotions.
It enables people to sense power dynamics that play a part in all social relationships, but also most especially in workplace relations.
Empathy involves understanding power dynamics, and how these affect feelings and behavior, as well as accurately perceiving situations where power dynamics come into force.
5. Motivation
Motivation, when considered as a component of EI, refers to intrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation means that an individual is driven to meet personal needs and goals, rather than being motivated by external rewards such as money, fame, and recognition.
People who are intrinsically motivated also experience a state of ‘flow’, by being immersed in an activity.
They are more likely to be action-oriented, and set goals. Such individuals typically have a need for achievement and search for ways to improve. They are also more likely to be committed and take initiative.
This has been a brief introduction into the 5 components of Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills, empathy, and motivation.
Goleman’s EI Performance Model
According to Goleman, EI is a cluster of skills and competencies, which are focused on four capabilities: self-awareness, relationship management, and social awareness. Goleman argues that these four capabilities form the basis of 12 ‘subscales’ of EI.
He suggests that these subscales are:
- emotional self-awareness
- emotional self-control
- adaptability
- achievement orientation
- positive outlook
- influence
- coaching and mentoring
- empathy
- conflict management
- teamwork
- organizational awareness
- inspirational leadership
- Managers with emotional intelligence (EQ) achieve objectiveness through their self-awareness, which promotes productive, motivated, and equal workplaces
- Daniel Goleman’s emotional intelligence theory outlines five components of EQ: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills
- Emotional intelligence can be applied to meet goals and targets, as well as create a happier and healthier working culture
Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Quadrant
The Evolved Model
Goleman argues that individuals that adopt these characteristics give themselves a far greater chance of being successful than individuals that do not. However, individuals are not simply born with these skills and they can be learned. They also work in synergy with each other and therefore developing each one of them has exponential returns. He has also emphasized that cognitive and emotional intelligence are not opposing attitudes, but simply different disciplines that should be developed. He is certainly not suggesting cognitive intelligence is irrelevant, but that interest should be shifted to focus on them both equally.
In 2000 Goleman developed this model further, focusing on four key categories and various sub-categories within them. These categories are self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and relationship management.
Each domain has the connected competencies listed inside the boxes. Here are some background on each domain in the quadrant.
Self-Awareness
• Emotional self-awareness
• Accurate self-assessment
• Self-confidence
Self-Management
• Emotional self-control
• Transparency
• Adaptability
• Achievement
• Initiative
• Optimism
Social Awareness
• Empathy
• Organizational awareness
• Service
Relationship Management
• Inspirational leadership
• Influence
• Developing others
• Change catalyst
• Conflict management
• Building bonds
• Teamwork and collaboration