Introduction
Emotional intelligence has recently become a popular topic for discussion among people, especially students and office workers. There are even enthusiastic supporters of EI who consider it to be of more value for t achieving personal goals and zest for life than intellectual faculties. Indeed, the so-called IQ seems to play an essential role in everyone’s life since it gives people the opportunity to find solutions to the issues on the agenda. However, it is of more importance to mountain hold of one’s emotions in order to become a successful individual.
The Assessment of EQ
Admittedly, the emotional background may change fast depending on the circumstances. If it comes to stand up for oneself in a quarrel or hurry to meet a deadline, one can hardly avoid stress and the feeling of frustration. Another problem concerns expressing emotions because some tend to be too restrained to say words of love or reveal utter dissent. In this case, such people are likely to have problems with communication with others, not knowing how to show their feelings. Moreover, it seems difficult for them to interpret people’s gestures, facial expressions, and intonation. These difficulties may easily lead to misunderstandings and even conflicts based on mutual dislike. Therefore, the researchers have discovered emotional quotient (EQ) – the measurement of “the ability to perceive and express, assimilate emotion in thought, understanding the prism of emotions and adjust ourselves and others emotions” (Cotruş, Stanciu, & Bulborea, 2012). As the measurement exists, there are many tests and quizzes to assess EQ. It might be of great interest to take them to learn more about one’s emotional potential.
Indeed, the results of one of such tests may be valuable for understanding how people’s emotions affect their personal and professional life. According to the results of the test created by Cherry, the student under consideration gained an average score (2020). It means that the respondent is likely to be good at dealing with stressful situations, solving conflicts, and acting upon emotions. In addition, they possess a great understanding of how one can use soft skills in communication. However, there can be areas of improvement concerning recovering senses after contentious debates or continuous pressure. The weak points may be conducive to bad mood and weariness at work, which turned out to be of great surprise for the respondent. Fortunately, there is a strong possibility to improve it in contrast to logical-mathematical intelligence.
Areas of Improvement
People usually mould their character and individual perception throughout their whole life, whereas their intellectual potential can hardly increase as the brain outwears. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to work on one’s EQ to stay an active member of society. As far as job performance is concerned, there can be strategies for switching from the negative sides of work to the positive evaluation of the process. For instance, the respondent may take up physical exercises to learn how to throw out anger. Secondly, it makes sense to write down pleasant moments every day to stay in tune with the world. By memorizing joyful occasions, one is sure to forget sorrows easily. Moreover, there are studies confirming that special training of socio-emotional skills through art may be helpful for those who want to achieve progress in that sphere (Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019). These skills are considered to be necessary for building a career. As promotion is at stake, it would be of paramount importance to keep a good relationship with coworkers and supervisors.
EQ as a Means of Establishing a Good Working Relationship
In fact, as a future manager, one is better to pay attention to their employee’s emotional intelligence, because people with a low score on it are unlikely to fit into the team. There is a doubt that by having extraordinary IQ, they will manage to find a way with colleagues and assert their authority. Nevertheless, it is also important to be friendly to demanding customers. It may be complicated to meet their needs if an employee cannot understand their expressions and judge their attitude to the product. Furthermore, it is a well-known fact that “effective management of stress through emotional intelligence helps to reduce or reappraising the pressures and enhancing an employee’s coping ability and resources to face the complex and demanding situation” (Rani & Yadapadithaya, 2018). Therefore, a worker with low EQ is bound to suffer from constant burn-outs and may easily give up their job. Indeed, no supervisor wants to lose their workers too often. That is why it is necessary to test their socio-emotional skills before accepting for employment. Besides, it is generally agreed that one needs to possess something more than IQ to show outstanding performance at work. According to recent studies, “employees with almost identical skills at the same IQ levels are assumed to be hired in the selection process; however, they show different levels of personal achievement and career development in organizations during their career paths. In other words, IQ seems to be a threshold competence needed to enter organizations, but it does not make an employee superior in terms of performance” (as cited in Goleman, 1998, p. 319). It proves that emotional intelligence being more important for workers, because people with a high score of it tend to be more successful at work. Thus, emotional intelligence and socio-emotional skills represent the key to an employee’s career prospects and the ability to achieve the leading position in the future. People may act differently at workplace, concealing emotions, but suppressed feelings may lead to passive anger that has no good impact on work.
Conclusion
To sum it up, emotional intelligence (EQ) is a phenomenon that determines one’s success in life, especially at work. It is widely recognized that employees are judged by their ability to hold their temper and understand coworkers and clients. In fact, emotional intelligence presupposes finding contact with people, controlling one’s emotions, expressing emotions with a great variety of means like intonation and facial expressions, and interpreting other people’s emotions. Some people are lucky to be brought with a high score of it, but there are many others who underscore in it. It should be taken into account that emotional intelligence compared with IQ may be developed throughout the whole life. Therefore, it would be better to improve soft skills and socio-emotional skills to raise one’s EQ. However, before resorting to different trainings, it may be helpful to take several tests on EQ on the Internet to find out whether there are problems to be solved. There are many strategies to become good at regulating one’s emotions that can be implemented in life. One can easily find them in the Internet too or even create on their own.
References
Cherry, K. (2020). How emotionally intelligent are you? Verywell Mind.
Rani, P. B., & Yadapadithaya, P. S. (2018). Conquering workplace stress through emotional intelligence: Strategies and possibilities. Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, 9(1), 7-12.
Cotruş, A., Stanciu, C., & Bulborea, A. A. (2012). EQ vs. IQ Which is Most Important in the Success or Failure of a Student? Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 5211-5213.
Aydin, M. D., Leblebici, D. N., Arslan, M., Kilic, M., & Oktem, M. K. (2005). The impact of IQ and EQ on pre-eminent achievement in organizations: Implications for the hiring decisions of HRM specialists. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(5), 701-719.
Mattingly, V., & Kraiger, K. (2019). Can emotional intelligence be trained: A meta-analytical investigation. Human Resource Management, 29(2), 140-155.