An emotionally intelligent person excels in four key areas, according to Daniel Goleman's popular model: Self-Awareness (knowing your own emotions), Self-Management (handling your emotions effectively), Social Awareness (understanding others' emotions), and Relationship Management (managing interactions well). These form personal competence (self-awareness, self-management) and social competence (social awareness, relationship management).
While many skills contribute to emotional intelligence, there are 4 key components of EQ: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. These components pair up under two primary competencies: personal competence and social competence.
The four components of emotional intelligence – self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship management – contribute to this development. Practicing emotional intelligence allows us to recognize patterns in our behaviour and emotions, helping us better understand our actions and reactions.
Emotional intelligence is not only a gift in the workplace, but also in relationships. Regularly communicating four phrases may signify that you have the emotionally intelligent qualities: self-awareness (accountability), social awareness, empathy, and motivation.
4 Key Branches of Emotional Intelligence
But emotional intelligence is a new and somewhat slippery concept. It helps to break it down into four main categories when trying to understand it. The four main sets of skills are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
For example, in his 2003 book “A Himalayan Trinity” Mark Oliver (Founder of MarkTwo) identified four fundamental intelligences - IQ, EQ (Emotional Intelligence), PQ (Physical Intelligence) and SQ (Spiritual Intelligence).
Eight Signs of High Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and How You Respond
Leaders who recognize, reflect, reframe and respond can increase their moral and emotional intelligence.
Finding fault with, criticizing, and putting others down
While they will give feedback to others, emotionally intelligent people will never do this to punish them, belittle them, or make them feel bad.
Emotional intelligence includes having a heightened sense of awareness. Those with a high EQ are masters of reading facial expressions, body language, and can often tell when someone is having a bad day, allowing them to respond accordingly. This includes having a sense of self-awareness as well.
While traits can vary from person to person, the following are common indicators of low EQ:
Most coaching interventions try to enhance some aspect of EQ, usually under the name of social, interpersonal, or soft skills training. The underlying reasoning is that, whereas IQ is very hard to change, EQ can increase with deliberate practice and training.
The Four Components of Emotional Intelligence
For the purposes of these lessons, we have chosen to use Daniel Goleman's model with four domains: self- awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.
Essential EQ for Managers: The First 3 Self-Awareness Exercises
It builds on Goleman's model for emotional intelligence, which includes four key pillars: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management.
Daniel Goleman's model of emotional intelligence includes five realms, which are then broken down into four quadrants:
Below are just a few examples of leaders with high emotional intelligence that you might look to for inspiration: Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO) – Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella leads with empathy, with the belief that employees who feel heard and understood will do their best work for the organization.
Emotional Intelligence Part II: 7 Signs of Strong EQ
Interestingly, anxious overthinkers often demonstrate high emotional intelligence as well. Their heightened sensitivity and self-awareness can make them exceptionally attuned to others' feelings and needs. This emotional intelligence manifests as: Enhanced empathy toward others' suffering.
There are three things you must always ask yourself before you say anything. Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said by me? Does this need to be said by me, now?
The theory of multiple intelligences (MI) posits that human intelligence is not a single general ability but comprises various distinct modalities, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, and spatial intelligences.
The Boyatzis-Goleman model divides EI competencies into four groups: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Similarly, the Bar-On model offers five main components of EI: intrapersonal skills, interpersonal skills, adaptability, stress management, and mood.
Among each of the seven types of intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence is considered the rarest.