According to the American psychologist and creator of the concept Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence is as important as the intellectual skills of employees. In his book “Emotional Intelligence, volume 2”, he reports the results of three years of international research on this subject and deduces that the emotional quotient is one of the most important factors of professional success. What is it really ? This is what we will see right away.
What does emotional intelligence mean?
In simpler terms, emotional intelligence is our ability to understand our emotions, to manage them, but also to understand those of others and take them into account. More and more people in charge of human resources management are giving special importance to this concept in order to create a more fulfilling work environment for workers. It starts with the introduction of a communication culture and collaboration at the staff level.
The concept of emotional intelligence is therefore made up of five different skills:
- Self-knowledge: know yourself, that is to say, learn to recognize our own emotions, our needs, our values, our habits and to identify our true personality that is to say who we are.
- Self-regulation: it is our ability to control our emotions so that they are to our advantage and not an endless source of worry for us and our colleagues.
- Motivation: is the ability of everyone to set measurable goals and focus on them despite obstacles.
- Empathy: this is our ability to put ourselves in other people's shoes, that is, to understand their emotions, feelings and needs.
- Social skills: it is our ability to communicate with others, whether to convince, to lead, to establish a consensus ...
The importance of emotional intelligence in the professional world
Nowadays, a large part of modern companies have adopted the "open space", ie an open workspace that allows employees and managers to work as a team and increase the performance of the company. 'business. Because of this proximity, it is necessary for each collaborator to acquire a better emotional intelligence. This is necessary so that he can better recognize the emotions, feelings and needs of his colleagues or subordinates in order to foster a quality work climate.
By ensuring cohesion between employees, emotional intelligence also ensures the development of a much more efficient team. It has the effect of improving productivity through the practice of different exercises of stimulation of emotional intelligence. In addition, empathy, which is one of the skills of emotional intelligence, promotes better interpersonal communication within the company and facilitates the coordination of teams that do not compete but work together.
Six primary emotions to identify
Recognizing them makes it easier for us to use them to our advantage. As a general rule, learning to adapt appropriately to the behavior generated by your emotions will improve your emotional intelligence.
- Joy
This feeling is characterized by a sudden increase in energy and a feeling of well-being. It is the result of the secretion of pleasure hormones such as oxytocin or endorphin. They develop optimism.
- Surprise
It is the feeling that indicates an astonishment thanks to or because of an unexpected thing or situation. The result is the development of our sense organs, responsible for sight and hearing. This is the result of a high influx of neurons.
- Disgust
It is the complete repugnance or disinterest in something or situation that we consider bad for us. Usually, this causes a sensation of nausea.
- Sadness
It is an emotional state that comes with a period of calm in order to cash in a painful event. It is presented by a slowing down of gestural languages or the rhythm of movements.
- Anger
It reflects discontent when something that is important to us has been torn from us or something is being imposed on us or something we do not approve of. This leads to an accumulation of energy.
- La peur
It is the awareness of a danger or a threat according to a situation and forces to think of the different means to face it or to escape it. This causes an increase in adrenaline and the influx of blood into the muscles in case of sudden deployment of physical exertion.
Emotional intelligence in leadership
It is found that people who have strong emotional intelligence have better leadership and vice versa. As a result, the level of leadership does not depend on the position a manager occupies in the company, but on his ability to integrate with employees and communicate with others. Only by fulfilling these criteria can a leader be qualified as an effective leader.
A manager is also judged according to his behavior and actions, that is to say, by his nonverbal communication. By following the "giving and giving" principle, employees will easily respond to their requests based on respect and attention to their needs. It is the empathic capacity and social aptitude that play a vital role here.
What place to give to emotional intelligence in recruitments?
Daniel Goleman warns us about the misuse of emotional intelligence as it was for the intelligence quotient. Indeed, the intelligence quotient was a tool to determine the intellectual capacity and the aptitude of each one to succeed in professional life. However, the results of the various tests only determine 10 to 20% of professional success. There is therefore no point in basing an interview on incomplete results.
On the other hand, emotional intelligence can evolve through different exercises and practices. Moreover, it is impossible to assign a score since the five components on which the emotional intelligence is based are not measurable or quantifiable. It is possible that we only control a part of these components and have a disability on another.
In short, mastering the emotional intelligence of managers and workers in a company contributes to improving their productivity and their ability to adapt to the constant change in their environment. This represents a gain for quality of life and professional development, the level of which can vary from one person to another.
