What is Emotional Intelligence?

Simply put, Emotional Intelligence are the most important people skills in life. It's our ability to interact successfully with others. To understand our emotions, manage our moods and motivate ourselves and those around us and to resolve conflict and manage problems. Numerous studies have equated high levels of Emotional Intelligence to higher levels of personal happiness and attainment. Surprisingly, given the evidence, it's only recently that Emotional Intelligence has started to be given credit on a business level as a major factor in a company's success.

People often tell us that they can see the value of Emotional Intelligence training, but are unsure what it contributes to an office environment. In our experience, Emotional Intelligence at work looks something like this:

 

• Your customers enjoying a positive experience in every interaction with your company.

• Your staff turning up every day feeling motivated and empowered to do a great job.

• Harmful workplace disputes transformed into harmonious, productive relationships.

When all this comes together, Emotional Intelligence in the workplace equates to one simple thing: a healthier bottom line. Smart Companies are already benefiting from EI.

Market leaders like Apple, Google and Virgin have long realised that by investing in their people – by improving the so called 'soft skills' of their workforce – they could gain a major competitive advantage. In fact research shows that companies who choose to invest in EI are on average more profitable than those that don't, no matter what the size of the company or the industry. There's a vast amount of research that backs this thinking up:

A study by Daniel Goleman (1998) found that in medium complexity jobs, the top performers are on average 127% more productive than an average performer. Further research proved that one third of this difference was based in cognitive ability, while two thirds was down to emotional intelligence.

Boyatzis (1999) found that consultants for a multinational firm who scored above average on a test looking at 17 Emotional Intelligence competencies and 3 others, were 139% more profitable than their colleagues who scored average or lower. In this particular firm, this equated to a difference in profit of $1.2 million.

TalentSmart have found that 90% of high level performers rank above average for Emotional Intelligence.