Emotional Intelligence: Career Success and Beyond by Alita Abraham
Updated: Mar 6, 2021
“When awareness is brought to an emotion, power is brought to your life.” – Tara Meyer Robson
In the initial years of urban development; education, career growth, and knowledge were considered the most crucial elements. Recent studies had indicated that one’s emotional intelligence was considered to be given the utmost or equal importance; just as the intellectual ability when it comes to looking at the critical components of attaining success (Cherniss et al., 2006).
Emotional intelligence (EI) outlines an individual’s ability to recognize their emotions as well as their efficiency in regulating their emotions. It also involves one’s skill to comprehend other’s emotions and their aptitude in responding appropriately. The significance or the role of emotional intelligence being a factor for one’s achievement is crucial, as the EI of a person would reveal a lot about their personality and their efficiency in tackling a tough situation.
These days, in such a competitive world, most organizations or recruiters give importance to a candidate’s problem-solving skills, efficiency, time management and cooperation. These qualities cannot be acquired overnight, and only through experience, awareness and of course a determined mindset. And a common link to all those qualities is one’s emotional intelligence, which is why it’s a crucial component for one’s career growth. When it comes to managing an organisation, it is believed that individuals with a higher EI level, seems to have better decision-making skills and improved emotional regulation abilities (Farnia et al., 2018). Hence companies or businesses would always prefer to recruit employees with a better EI value due to the following reasons:
Effective communication skills and hence improved team dynamics.
Enhanced work productivity, thereby improved profit gains.
Efficiently manage emotional stress/anxiety.
Better time management and team-building skills
A study conducted by the Motorola company, whereby they provided a stress management training program for the employees in the manufacturing department, showed an increase in the productivity rate by 93% of the employees (Ihhp.com, 2021). And additionally, the forum corporation on manufacturing and service companies noticed that the reduction in the customers or clients dealings was due to poor customer services provided by the employees, for one of the reasons being low EI (Winter, 2021). Hence, showing the importance and implications of Emotional Intelligence in today’s world.
Individual’s emotional intelligence can influence success, understanding each element of EQ i.e. self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills; vital to recognize and learn techniques accordingly depending on which skill the individual is weaker in.
Well, the significance of emotional intelligence cannot just be seen in the success of one’s career, but even in one’s success in familial relationships, the success of love life and most importantly the success of being true to themselves.
Research has shown that when young children are being made aware of emotional intelligence and training them on this aspect, it has a substantial positive impact on their academic life and forming relationships, especially when it comes to setting boundaries in their life (Mavroveli et al., 2008). Further, research also suggests that emotional intelligence traits can be a predictive factor for satisfaction in romantic relationships (Malouff et al., 2013).
In a nutshell, the literature suggests a new benchmark in attaining success which proved equal importance for both emotional intelligence and IQ, indicating that neither can be ignored. Hence, while developing skills and enhancing knowledge through educational degrees and other coachings, it is vital considering, to assess and analyse one’s EI, through self-administered questionnaires, identify the aspects to be improved and accordingly incorporate necessary steps/techniques into one’s lifestyle.
References
Cherniss, C., Extein, M., Goleman, D., & Weissberg, R. (2006). Emotional Intelligence: What Does the Research Really Indicate?. Educational Psychologist, 41(4), 239-245. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4104_4
Farnia, F., Nafukho, F., & Petrides, K. (2018). Predicting Career Decision-Making Difficulties: The Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence, Positive and Negative Emotions. Frontiers In Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01107
Ihhp.com. (2021) , from https://www.ihhp.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ROI-for-Emotional-Intelligence-an-IHHP-White-Paper.pdf.
Malouff, J., Schutte, N., & Thorsteinsson, E. (2013). Trait Emotional Intelligence and Romantic Relationship Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis. The American Journal Of Family Therapy, 42(1), 53-66. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2012.748549
Mavroveli, S., Petrides, K., Shove, C., & Whitehead, A. (2008). Investigation of the construct of trait emotional intelligence in children. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 17(8), 516-526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-008-0696-6
Winter, T. (2021). 30 Interesting Statistics on Emotional Intelligence. Blog.dtssydney.com., from https://blog.dtssydney.com/30-interesting-statistics-on-emotional-intelligence.