71% of employers value Emotional Quotient (EQ) more than the traditional aptitude test used to determine our Intelligence Quotient (IQ)!

That is quite an attention-grabbing statistic, so I thought we would tackle the subject of Emotional Intelligence (EI), or Emotional Quotient (EQ) as it is sometimes known, over the next couple of blogs. As usual with these things, it helps to get a basic definition of what exactly we are talking about so let me introduce Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer, who have been some of the leading researchers on this subject. They define EI as "the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions" (1990).

They also came up with a model that identified the 4 different elements of EI – perceiving, reasoning, understanding, and managing emotions, and those of the things we going to drill down into a little more today.

1. Perceiving Emotions – the starting point in being able to understand emotions and the role they play, is the ability to be able to perceive them accurately. Emotions contain valuable information about who you are, how you handle relationships, and the world around you. Obviously, if you are not able to perceive the correct emotion this will seriously impair your ability to reason, understand or manage your, or other people's emotions. In others, accurate perception will involve being able to understand a range of different signals that would include things such as the other person's facial expression, and their body language. Being aware of other people's emotions is a foundational key to working with, and motivating other people.
2. Reasoning With Emotions – once we have correctly perceived the emotion, we can move on to using that emotion to firstly generate thinking, and thereafter, cognitive actions. Because we respond emotionally to things that grab our attention, we need to use the emotions we perceive to help us prioritise the things we pay attention to, and react to. How we feel influences how we think, and readers of my previous blogs will know that science proves that we tend to be better at generating ideas and finding solutions to problems when we are in a more positive emotional state. Reasoning with emotions effectively means developing the ability to link emotions with cognitive processes – knowing what mood is best for which situation allows you to access the most appropriate mood to achieve the best outcome, and allows you to be strategic (TYJ) in the way you approach and solve problems.
3. Understanding Emotions – emotions can be very complex so this ability requires us being aware of that complexity, understanding blends of emotions, and what can trigger them. It involves recognising why you feel certain things and understanding your personal emotional triggers, some of which may have been around for as long as you can remember, and are usually tied to your values and beliefs. Once we have correctly perceived the emotion, we need to understand that the same emotion can carry a broad spectrum of meanings. If you get into work tomorrow and your boss is obviously angry you need to interpret the cause of that anger and its potential meaning. In the worst case, it could mean that he is not satisfied with your performance, or he may simply have got a speeding ticket on his way to work that morning, or had a fight with his wife!
4. Managing Emotions – this is probably the most crucial part of the application of emotional intelligence.  I mentioned earlier that emotions contain information and ignoring that information when we need to make a decision sets us up for a less than stellar outcome! Being able to regulate our emotions to ensure that we behave appropriately in any given situation, and making sure that we respond correctly to other people's emotions is the most important aspect of managing our emotions. We need to know when to engage with, or disengage from, an emotion in any given circumstance, and managing emotions is essentially about having a range of reactive options to draw on in order to respond effectively in any given situation. We also need to remain open to other people's feelings, exhibiting care for them and their situations, and where necessary, helping them to develop strategies to manage their emotions.

Approaching the subject of EI using these 4 steps moves us from more basic psychological processes through to higher and more psychologically integrated processes. Perceiving emotions correctly is the entry-level to EI, whilst managing emotions, which involves the conscious and reflective regulation of emotion, would be seen as the upper level of the skill. By managing your own emotions effectively you will be more successful as a leader, team member and as a person. You will develop more resilience, be tempted to explode less often, and to be able to communicate more effectively with people around you as you develop the ability to manage your emotions, instead of your emotions managing you.

The ability to express and control our own emotions is absolutely essential, but for us to be outstanding we also need the ability to understand, correctly perceive and interpret, and therefore respond appropriately, to the emotions of the people around us. Lack of harmony in the family or at work, and a lack of cohesion in a team, is indicative of an EI problem that will only escalate if not suitably resolved.

Insight into what makes us tick, and the emotional states of the people around us requires emotional knowledge and reflection. This will help you understand why you feel and react the way you do, and helps you understand other people better. Are you clear on your own values and beliefs and how they impact your behaviour? Are you clear on the values and beliefs of the people you care for, work with and lead? If not, or if you would simply like to confirm that you can answer all of these questions I would be very happy to run a complimentary "Understanding My Values and Beliefs" session for you. Hop on over to http://www.version8.com.au and use our Contact Page to request your personal session. 

As usual, feel free to leave any other comments below or on our Facebook pageor Twitter feed, and if we can help you with anything else jump on over to http://www.version8.com.au/contact-us, and use our Contact Page to drop us a line.