We shared a post recently that looked at emotional intelligence and IQ, which pretty much showed that EQ is far more desirable in the workplace.

There is a huge amount of research out there that backs this up and shows how powerful emotional intelligence can be for success in work and life.

Cary Cherniss published a paper called “The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence” which you can view here.

Here are a few of the findings:

Out of 515 senior executives, those with high emotional intelligence were more successful than those with relevant previous experience or high IQ.
Sales reps at a computer company were 90% more likely to finish their training if they were hired based on high emotional intelligence than other criteria.
At L’Oreal, sales people with high emotional intelligence sold $91,370 more than other salespeople.

So what are few qualities that emotionally intelligent people have?

Confidence – There is a fine line between being ‘The Man’ and just being a smarty pants. Emotionally intelligent people tend to tread this line with swag! They are confident in their decisions minus arrogance, which can affect their team negatively.
Compassion – Leaders with compassion care about their employees and are always willing to provide a helping hand.
Authenticity – Authentic leaders are good at communicating and stick to their guns. This means they have a clear idea of what they want to achieve with their team and inspire the motivation and loyalty in others to reach those goals.
Respect – Respectful leaders treat everyone the same and respect themselves and others.

The best thing about emotional intelligence is that it can easily be improved through training and experience.

How?

The key is self-awareness, which we talked about in our previous blog here.

But there are also a few quick tips you can try:

Be positive – Motivation is vital to emotional intelligence. One thing you can do to improve your motivation is to not let work life get you down. Always think, “how can I do better next time”, instead of focussing on negative emotions and try to keep on smiling. Eventually, your brain will start to do this automatically. I have a little book on my desk titled, “You are doing a freaking great job”. Every now and then I will pick it up and read some of the funny and inspiring quotes to turn my frown upside down in the face of a challenge.
Take note – You don’t need to turn into Bridget Jones, but taking a quick note of how you are feeling throughout the week and associating those feelings with situations will give you a better understanding of yourself and improve your self-awareness.
Praise others – This is part of having good social skills. It is a fine art but praising others can really help improve emotions all round and will make everyone including you feel good and inspire loyalty.
Copy someone else – Don’t be afraid to look at someone who is better at handling their emotions than you and try to emulate their behaviour. A role model is great for improving empathy.
Hold your hands up – When you make a mistake, just admit it. It is not easy but you will find that you will earn a lot more respect from others by being honest than by making excuses. This is a core element of self-regulation.

from Reality HR Limited http://www.realityhr.co.uk/blog/improve-emotional-intelligence/