"If you are, or aspire to be, in a leadership role, there’s an emotional element you need to consider. It’s what helps you successfully coach teams, manage stress, deliver feedback, and collaborate with others.
It’s called emotional intelligence, and accounts for nearly 90 percent of what sets high performers apart from peers with similar technical skills and knowledge."
Harvard Business School, 2019
Emotional Intelligence, sometimes referred to as E.Q, has gained notice over the last few decades as a way to measure a person's ability to recognise and manage the impact of emotions on themselves and their relationships with others. It is a distinguishing factor between good and great leadership, as you can see from the quote above, and it is also linked to job performance and wellbeing. Emotional intelligence is critical for building relationships and teams, in resolving conflict, solving problems, leading effectively and building resilience.
The good news is that EI is a set of social and emotional skills, not personality traits, which means that we can develop our EI with awareness and deliberate practice. There are many ways that you can do this, but one of our favourites at Leaderful Action is using the EQi 2.0 tool.
The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0) is the world’s leading measure of emotional intelligence, applying decades of research to support effective human performance and development. It is used globally to help individuals, teams and organisations to measure and develop EI. It focuses on 5 areas of EI, which are then broken down into 15 subscales:
Self- Perception: Self-regard, Self-actualization and Emotional Self-Awareness
Self- Expression: Emotional Expression, Assertiveness and Independence
Interpersonal: Interpersonal Relationships, Empathy and Social Responsibility
Decision Making: Problem Solving, Reality Testing and Impulse Control
Stress Management: Flexibility, Stress Tolerance and Optimism
The EQi tool provides an overall snapshot of someone’s emotional intelligence and their social and emotional functioning. It uses an online self-assessment to score your EI in the 15 areas and provides a detailed report on your strengths and how to develop, which is then explored with one of our accredited practitioners in a 121 coaching session. There is also the option of an additional group report and of using a 360 feedback tool based on the model, for a more rounded overview of someone's EI.
Leaderful Action is an accredited provider of the EQi 2.0 tool. If you are interested in exploring Emotional Intelligence individually or for your team, get in touch for information on what we offer.