In this post, I attempt to explain Emotional Intelligence. By
searching the Internet, I have found “the periodic table” of emotions:
But fun aside, there is much more to emotional intelligence…
Emotional intelligence is about someone’s awareness of his
or her own emotions, interests and the ability to manage these emotions. During
my research about emotional intelligence I came across a great website which
explains signs of high emotional intelligence, as well as low emotional
intelligence. (Signs of emotional intelligence).
It took me a while to understand the difference between personality
and emotional intelligence. Finally, I found my explanation on a dictionary website (Link to Dictionary) where the definition of personality is “the sum total of the physical, mental,
emotional, and social characteristics of an individual”. This makes sense, as personality
is made up of various parts and emotional intelligence is one part of it.
According to Daniel Goleman (Interview on youtube here)
emotional intelligence skills can be learned and the best way to do so, is by
asking our peers and find out what our own strengths and weaknesses are. As
individuals we have a hard time perceiving our real strengths and weaknesses, let alone our actual personality. We constantly strive for our goals and can easily misjudge ourselves.
Related to emotional intelligence is social intelligence.
Rather than knowing and controlling our own emotions, social intelligence is
about reading others, finding out what they feel, think and want. Having social
intelligence allows a leader to effectively influence followers. Without
knowing what someone’s feelings and desires are it is hard to motivate this
individual.
Looking at the managerial grid, according to Mr. Goleman “Country Club” and “Team Leader” type leaders are the most effective since they
pay close attention to the relationship with their subordinates and therefore
will strive to “read” employees and find out what they feel, desire and interests.
Hi Stephan,
ReplyDeleteI have to apologize I have been pretty bad at making comments on blogs, that being said I wanted to thank you for the help you have provided us who have never done an on-line course before. As for your post I know I struggled with what emotional intelligence means at first as well the only advantage I had was my employer has provided a few courses on the matter. I think a lot of people are using emotional intelligence without knowing it they just have never thought about what they are feeling when they are in certain situations.
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comment and thank you for that. I am always thankful when fellow students provide me with help and try to give back where I can.
I completely agree with your statement, that many people are actually using and developing their emotional intelligence without even thinking about it. These days humans are confronted with so many news from a wide variety of channels, that our emotional intelligence never stops developing.