Emotional intelligence is the ability to accurately identify your own emotions, as well as those of others according to Psychology Today. It also includes the ability to utilize emotions and apply them to tasks, as well as manage your own emotions... while influencing the emotions of others in a positive way.
Emotional intelligence in leadership is comprised of empathy, social skills, self-awareness, self-regulation and motivation. These are all teachable soft skills that are the focus of our online leadership and management courses.
They show empathy toward others
Emotionally intelligent people can read others too. They observe social and emotional cues and see past simply what is said to what someone might be experiencing underneath. They care about how their actions affect other people, and they're able to make predictions to avoid causing hurt.
The finding of the study showed that introvert, intuition, feeling and judging (INFJ) personality type were more emotionally intelligent than the extrovert, sensing, thinking and perceiving (ESTP) personality type.
Those who have a high EQ are highly in tune with both their own emotions and the emotions of those around them. They can recognize and understand the various feelings that sweep through them and are able to appropriately manage them.
In other words, highly emotionally intelligent people use emotions to help direct their attention and think critically to achieve their goals. For example, feeling angry helps people negotiate, and an emotionally intelligent person may listen to angry music before negotiating a salary raise.
Social Skills
Emotionally intelligent people tend to have strong social skills, probably because they are so attuned to their own feelings as well as those of others. They know how to deal with people effectively, and they are invested in maintaining healthy social relationships and helping those around them succeed.
Emotionally intelligent people improve the quality of their relationships, cultivate leadership skills and garner the respect and love of others, all leading to greater personal happiness.
The four domains of Emotional Intelligence — self awareness, self management, social awareness, and relationship management — each can help a leader face any crisis with lower levels of stress, less emotional reactivity and fewer unintended consequences.
'Social skills' is a very broad term (our page Social Skills covers the general meaning), but it is also used quite specifically in the context of Emotional Intelligence. In emotional intelligence the term 'social skills' refers to the skills needed to handle and influence other people's emotions effectively.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of people around you. There are five key elements to EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
But what is EI and why is it so important? Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and regulate one's emotions and understand the emotions the others. A high EQ helps you to build relationships, reduce team stress, defuse conflict and improve job satisfaction.
Moreover, emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between four dimensions of personality (extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and gratitude and acted as a suppressor between neuroticism and gratitude.
Aron discovered that many gifted individuals are very sensitive. Therefore they are very creative, but because impressions and emotions come in strongly, they do not always know how to use that creativity.
In fact, the narcissist is so supportive that he or she appears emotionally intelligent. This honeymoon phase usually lasts until the partner is seriously invested in the relationship.
People with low EQ often struggle to understand and control their emotions. They might lash out reactively without understanding what they are really feeling or why they are so upset. A person who lacks EQ might also have unexpected emotional outbursts that seem overblown and uncontrollable.
All people experience emotions, but it is a select few who can accurately identify them as they occur. Our research shows that only 36% of people can do this, which is problematic because unlabeled emotions often go misunderstood, which leads to irrational choices and counterproductive actions.
Other leaders that come to mind for me personally are many of the individuals' religions were founded around: Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Abraham… These individuals exuded high emotional intelligence and awareness at the utmost level.
Not everyone is born with it, but unlike IQ, emotional intelligence can be acquired and improved with practice.