According to researcher, Daniel Goleman, EI refers to the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships. It describes abilities distinct from, but complementary to, academic intelligence, measured IQ.

Goleman, in his book, Working with Emotional Intelligence, outlines five basic emotional and social ompetencies:

• Self-awareness: Knowing what we are feeling in the moment, and using those preferences to guide our decision making.
• Self-regulation: Handling our emotions in order to facilitate rather than interfere with the task at hand.
• Motivation: Using our deepest preferences to guide us toward our goals, to help take initiative and strive to improve, and to persevere in the face of setbacks.
• Empathy: Sensing what people are feeling, being able to take their perspective and cultivating rapport with a broad diversity of people.
• Social skills: Handling emotions in relationships well and accurately reading social situations and networks; using these skills to persuade and lead, and improve cooperation and teamwork.

The concept of "multiple intelligence" has been expressed and studied for the past 20 years. Perhaps the value this perspective brings is now gaining recognition as CEOs explore the importance for business success with "people skills" and modeling "effective people management". The trick, however, is not to rush out and offer a training workshop on interpersonal skills, but to accurately assess competencies, specifically target training, and establish systems for monitoring future performance and additional
training needs.

EI might sound foreign, but it has a lot of earthly value.

© Debbie King, Evolution Management, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.