Tuesday, September 30, 2008

What is Emotional Intelligence and How Can It Help You Perform Better at Work?

By Alison K. Mitchelson

In New South Wales and in particular Sydney, the business environment is growing and vibrant. As with any community that grows at this pace, we need more talent and leadership, and there are many people who are trying hard to find their niche in this area.

One talent that will assist you in getting ahead in this market is to tap into your emotional intelligence, also known as EI. There are many different competing definitions of just what emotional intelligence is, but most deal with a multimodal view of intelligence.

Put simply, people with a high emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) are better at reading other people's emotions. This makes it easier for them to read the emotions in a room of their coworkers, and helps them isolate problems with a business before the problem festers and comes to a head.

People with a high EQ can be identified in the workplace by their ability to use their own changing moods to focus on different parts of a project. In addition to being good at reading other people's emotions, they're good at identifying their own, which allows them to suit their mood to the task at hand. A sign of a high EQ worker is that they'll proactive task switch rather than sit and pound their head against the wall trying to work on the same project again and again.

As to using your emotional intelligence in the workplace, think of it as a way to get to listen to what other people are thinking. Because you can somewhat "read" other people's minds by taking note of their body language and facial expressions, this gives you a competitive advantage in a situation where you are arranging a contract or doing other types of negotiations. Indeed, if you watch someone's face as he or she reads a contract, you can often find out what they think of it as they're reading it, because their emotions may be unguarded in this context.

If you are in a leadership position or are about ready to move into one, this is another part of emotional intelligence you can use. Simply, it's "charisma" or your ability to lead people. If you have a high EQ, you know how to read people so that you can make them work most effectively. You know if someone needs a bit more pressure put on them to work through problem, and you know how to read subordinates' body language well enough that you can step in and offer assistance, encouragement, or a word of appreciation.

Having emotional intelligence can be a somewhat useful skill in public speaking, too, but it's best if you use it in small groups or in one-on-one situations. You can likely enhance it with practice, but you can only push it so far.

All businesses value people who get along with others, true. However, emotional intelligence as a model indicates that this is not necessarily something you can learn. Whether or not that's true, being aware of how you fit on the emotional intelligence spectrum and knowing what your abilities and limitations are can give you a step up as you work to advance in your career or to better serve clients within your business.

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