Emotional Intelligence is worth the investment and can easily be learned via coaching.
By Mike Cieri, MSIR, Vice President of Mardac Consultants
What moves the world? Oil? Money? Technology? These are certainly some of the levers that sometimes cause conditions in our world to change very significantly, but in fact, they are only tools. What engages these tools to affect our life conditions — for better or for worse — are the decisions of individual human beings. Here is the big news: Some of the most critical steps in making good decisions are emotional!
How many times have you heard: “This is a critical decision everyone, let’s make sure it’s emotional”? More likely than not, you’ve actually heard the reverse. But in a world that only grows more complex daily, we need to be accessing the full range of our decision-making skills more consciously, and that takes emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence is based on the set of behavioral skills that enables us to consistently engage, influence and motivate ourselves and one another. Leaders and teams with high emotional intelligence are more successful and more resilient than those who are only technically qualified. EI is based on such competencies as respecting yourself, persistently working to achieve your full potential, valuing and motivating others, and engaging creatively when conflict happens. Best of all, because emotional behavior is learned, we can learn new, more effective skills, eliminate ones that just aren’t working, and learn to do the things we already do well even better!
Emotional Intelligence is responsible for at least half of workplace success. Some studies have attributed it to as much as an 85% indicator of workplace success. One of the strengths of working with emotional intelligence is that the return on investment can be measured.
The five competencies for healthy Emotional Intelligence have been identified as:
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Regulation
- Self-Motivation
- Empathy
- Effective Relationships
Emotional Intelligence is worth the investment and can easily be learned via coaching.
About the author:
Mike Cieri, MSIR, is Vice President of Mardac Consultants and been in the Human Resource Management field for over 20 years. During this time he has held a variety of management positions, including several years on the executive management team of a large corporation as Vice President of Human Resources and Safety, as well as Vice President of Operations.
