Five reasons for developing your Emotional Intelligence

What is the history behind Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?

It has been almost 20 years since the concept of EQ reached mass audiences. At the same time it was identified that people with an average IQ outperform those with the highest IQ in 70% of cases. This led to the discovery of Emotional Intelligence. Today, the research that has been done in decades provides us a more clear and specified understanding of EQ and a lot of data regarding that topic.

What is EQ made of?

In the World Wide Web, thousands of definitions of Emotional Intelligence can be found. Generally, it is defined as the capacity to be aware of and manage our own emotions and feelings, to tune into other people’s emotions and understand their behavior, both to manage interactions successfully and make personal decisions that achieve positive results. Moreover, Emotional Intelligence can predict high performance at work and drive personal excellence. Hence, you might ask yourself:

How does EQ affect career success?

Emotional Intelligence will affect career success in many ways. Research shows a direct link between EQ and professional success, saying that

- 90% of top performers have high EQ;

- EQ is responsible for 58% of job performance;

- People with high EQ make 29,000 USD more annually than their low EQ counterparts (Source: http://www.talentsmart.com/)

Looking at those figures, there is no doubt about the value of EQ! As promised in the beginning, here are five reasons why you should develop your Emotional Intelligence:

1) You learn self-management.

The best way to learn self-management is to stop and question your emotions and feelings before you act. This is how you can accurately perceive them and stay aware of them as they happen. From the minute you have identified emotions and feelings in your almost reaction you can make decisions in a more rational way because you are AWARE. This will help you to strengthen your emotional awareness to manage your behavior, to communicate respectively and to become a trusted go-to person. The good thing about it: it applies not only to your personal life; it’s becoming a valuable skill for business relationships on a daily basis.

2) You get to know yourself better.

A high level of self-awareness leads to a better understanding of yourself to manage your own life and preferences. This helps to choose the right jobs and set to work with a will. With a high level of self-awareness and self-understanding you will be less afraid to step outside the comfort zone, to spearhead big projects or untouched territories. Whatever your goal is, you will feel strength to accomplish it and this will ultimately lead to an increase in confidence and happiness.

3) You practice adaptability.

Being emotionally intelligent is not only staying self-aware but being able to identify and understand other people’s emotions, behavior and moods. It gives you an ability to find access to any person and to understand what kind of communication works best. You will be able to take different relationship strategies based on the situation.

4) You build your business partner relationships in a more effective way.

Once you’ve found the right way to communicate with your business partner you will be able to make a better bargain and become a trusted partner for your customers or clients in the long run. So next time you face your business partner unsatisfied start with assessing the reasons before taking any guesses. That way you increase your credibility and demonstrate collaborative spirit.

5) You lead with purpose.

If you are a leader you know how important it is to lead with purpose, engage employees and inspire action. Your employees are looking for someone to trust, to have an open line of communication with, and to being personally and professionally fulfilled. As a leader with a high EQ you can provide your employees with what they need and you know the best ways to do so.

The benefits of being emotionally intelligent aren’t limited with these five. We hope that with this article, we could stimulate your interest to further explore. Indeed, it requires a lot of work to develop your EQ, but it is worth trying. With an open-minded and confidence in your inner strength, we are sure you will succeed in this!