Emotional intelligence is one’s ability to recognize and understand their emotions and skills that they can use to manage and improve relationships with themselves and others. Emotional intelligence at the workplace, on the other hand, can be used to perform work duties but also exercise self-management, self-control, provide effective leadership and emotional support to co-workers. Emotional intelligence can also be helpful in achieving goals, aims, and objectives, which can be in the long run quite beneficial for the business, the company and the office.
So, now that we’ve established what emotional intelligence is and how it can be utilized at the workplace, it is necessary to address the very topic of the article; what is the connection between emotional intelligence and success at work? Does emotional intelligence help establish and maintain professional success? Let’s look at some possible proofs and explanations.
Why is emotional intelligence important at work in the first place? Here are some of the reasons:
- High emotional intelligence can lead to better business decisions
- Emotional intelligence enables people to stay calm in stressful situations
- It also enables people to resolve conflicts and issues regarding business
- Emotional intelligence in leaders can provide greater empathy for workers
- Employees and employers with high EQ are usually good listeners, and respond positively to constructive criticism
- Emotional intelligence at work leaves room for development and improvement
Emotional Intelligence and Career Growth.
It is a well-known fact among psychologists and medical practitioners that emotional intelligence affects our everyday decision making, especially if we are occupying a prominent position at a job. Therefore, many hiring managers, around 71% of them to be exact, value an employee’s emotional intelligence (EQ) over their IQ. An even higher percentage of them have stated that employee with higher emotional intelligence is more likely to get a promotion at work.
Employers have been using emotional intelligence as a part of their assessment when hiring potential employees. Majority of them has agreed that they probably wouldn’t hire a candidate with a high IQ and low EQ, as they may not integrate and perform as well as someone with high EQ. So, the connection between emotional intelligence and career growth is definitely apparent.
Emotional Intelligence and Self-Management.
The central idea revolving around self-management regards emotional stress and anxiety. The way an individual handles such emotional states and situation inducing such emotional distress stands for their emotional intelligence. A successful employee should have the basic knowledge, at least, on how to deal with difficulties and problems at the workplace in order to reach a positive outcome for the company.
Self-management usually comes with self and social awareness as well as social skills. All of these traits of emotional intelligence can be determinant of a successful employee or someone who doesn’t fit into a particular workplace. When it comes to the leadership position, all of these traits become significantly more important. A leader, who is usually authoritative, needs to have a balanced personality, meaning a balance between EQ and IQ in order to lead the company orderly and rightfully.
Emotional Intelligence and Wellbeing.
Having workers or being a worker with poor health, mental and physical, can lead to a negative outlook at work, as well as procrastination and low-quality task performance. According to CIPHR, EQ can have a significant impact on mental and physical wellbeing, so those with higher EQ are usually healthier and have a more positive outlook.
These people are also known to identify and empathize with others, therefore contributing to a healthy workplace and worker-relationships. High EQ is also connected to mental resilience, thus, affecting someone’s conflict-resolving skills, stress reduction, healthy eating choices, and overall coping mechanisms when it comes to work and life difficulties.
Emotional Intelligence and Motivation.
According to Daniel Goleman’s model, those with a higher EQ have a greater ability to self-regulate, self-manage and overall increase self-motivation when needed. Those with low EQ, on the other hand, have a higher probability to procrastinate and suffer poor self-confidence, so high EQ is much more preferred at a workplace, for obvious reasons.
Finding motivation to complete a task is one of the most common issues among workers, especially if it’s related to something they don’t like, or their dislike of the job itself. Therefore, workers with lower EQ tend to underperform at work, while those with higher EQ usually provide steady performance. High EQ is also important for the motivation of the team at the office, as it helps people build trust, meaningful interaction, group identity, and group efficiency. Meaning, their cooperation, and collaboration will always be on top of the tasks.
Emotional Intelligence and Workplace Creativity.
According to a research and study, it has been proven that emotional intelligence is indirectly related to creativity in the workplace. People with high EQ are more likely to engage in the creative process and exhibit creative behaviors, rather than those with lower EQ. This usually helps them develop and broaden positive emotions and positive experience regarding their search for problem-solving or coming up with new ideas for future projects. Higher EQ also helps them stay resourceful; for example, instead of struggling with writing a paper, they’ll simply use help from top essay writing services that can be easily found online.
Moreover, people with high EQ are also seen as not only creative but also motivational of creativity with other people, which results in a positive mood, cognitive flexibility increase and greater creative fluency in every member of the workplace.
How to become more emotionally intelligent?
Emotional intelligence may not be something we all possess, but it is something we can acquire, learn and train. Here are some tips on how to become more emotionally intelligent and ultimately more successful at work:
- Become more self-aware
- Pay attention to your feelings throughout the day, in different situations
- Look into the ways you handle impatience, anger, annoyance, stress
- Practice self-regulation and self-management
- Make sure to keep calm when things get heated at work
- Learn to lower your stress and anxiety levels
- Improve social skills
- Improve communication with co-workers: learn to listen, avoid drama and manage conflict appropriately
- Learn to be more empathetic
- Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before judging and disagreeing
- Work on motivation and focus on the positive things about a task or project
