What is Emotional Intelligence?

The ability to manage oneself as well as other relationships. It consists of four fundamental capabilities of:

self awareness
self management
social awareness
social skill

Emotions are a very normal part of business. Emotions are also a little-understood aspect of business management. Your emotions impact how well you do in all areas of life—personal and professional.The skill of being the master of your own emotions is called emotional intelligence and it is rapidly becoming one of the most demanding skills in the business world. Why? Because business is done through relationships and relationships are made strongest between people who have done their inner work and have become adept at managing their emotions and their reactions.Much is known about the power of emotions and much has been written about emotional intelligence

1. Self-awareness - the ability to read one's emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions.
2. Self-management - controlling one's emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.
3. Social awareness - the ability to sense, understand, and react to other's emotions while comprehending social networks.
4. Relationship management - the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict.

Each aspect of emotional intelligence has important business implications, impacting you in your decision-making, relationship building, conflict management and leadership. The more emotionally intelligent you are, the more competent you become in business.

Developing your EI skills can be done in several ways. You may want to start by doing some research. There are several books on the market

Some people think the concept of emotional intelligence is too “soft” to be part of serious business conversation, but the paradigm is rapidly changing. Consider the words of Jack Welch, former Chairman of GE:

"A leader's intelligence has to have a strong emotional component. He has to have high levels of self-awareness, maturity and self-control. She must be able to withstand the heat, handle setbacks and when those lucky moments arise, enjoy success with equal parts of joy and humility. No doubt emotional intelligence is more rare than book smarts, but my experience says it is actually more important in the making of a leader. You just can't ignore it.”

Brief Introduction

Our perception of the relationship between thought and emotions turns out to be somewhat misguided. The majority of us tacitly subscribe to the idea that thought is most appropriate when not clouded by emotions. And, sure enough, strong emotions make it difficult to think straight. Rationalists have even made the elimination of emotion from thought their credo. Yet, clinical experiments show that thought devoid of emotions renders satisfactory decision-making impossible. The problem is not with emotions as such, but with the appropriateness of emotion and its expression. The task is not so much to suppress emotions - every feeling has its value and significance - but to strike a balance between rational thought and emotions. One of the keys to sound decision-making is a greater awareness of our emotions and those of others. Emotions are not just present when we fly off the handle or jump for joy, but are omnipresent in the most subtle ways in all our acts. How often are we in the sway of our emotions without even realising it?

Emotional talent our society can't afford to waste

At present, the emotional education of our children is left to chance. What does school teach them about emotions? Academic intelligence has little to do with emotional life. Based on rationality, school pays little or no attention to emotions lest they disrupt the class. Academic intelligence offers no preparation for the emotional turmoil of life. On the contrary school disparages emotional intelligence! Many of the natural abilities of children are not in handling complex mathematical calculations or memorising ancient history but rather in perceiving and understanding inherent emotional situations. Others are naturally gifted in handling relationships. Who could be so arrogant as to insist that academic knowledge is that much more important than emotional intelligence? Yet such is the case, to the extent that many emotionally gifted children leave school feeling like failures because they didn't have the necessary marks in languages or mathematics! Our society can't afford to waste their talent!

The murky picture

In a world increasingly centred on the unbridled satisfaction of individual needs, many people feel entitled to let free reign to their emotions without paying the slightest heed to the impact on those around them. Cut off from others in their individualism, some are victims of melancholy from which they can only escape with the help of cigarettes, drink or drugs. All of us are subject to ever increasing pressure as change accelerates and more and more aspects of life become uncertain. We are asked to be flexible, to learn to adapt. Yet being flexible is not so easy when fear and anxiety are just round the corner. At the same time, emotions such as stress, anxiety and anger in large doses are known to have serious adverse effects on physical health. How can we cope with such an apparently helpless situation?

There is a light!

There is a general feeling that, except in cases of excess when therapy is called for, there is little we can do about our emotions unless it be to swallow them or to vent them on those around us. Yet something can be done! We are not condemned to be eternal slaves to our ill-placed, seemingly unpredictable emotions or those of others. Basic skills related to handling emotions, settling disagreements peaceably and just plain getting along can be learnt or improved on. If we wish, we can develop human competencies such as self-awareness, self-control and empathy, and the arts of listening, resolving conflicts and co-operation. Not only is our ability at work and the quality of our life at home and at play at stake but also more generally the cohesion of society at large.

Here are excellent books to help you get started

Before purchasing ensure you have the program adobe reader installed on your computer as the book is a downloadable item which means no delivery charges and no waiting. This works out cheaper and more convenient than a hardcopy as you can print out parts of the book when needed.Adobe reader is free and you can download it using the link: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Applied Emotional Intelligence

A decade on from its birth, emotional intelligence is attracting more attention than ever before. Why? Because of its proven connection to performance. Tomorrow's leaders will have to be facilitators who work collaboratively to help others develop their potential, and this will require emotionally intelligent skills and attitudes. Against this landscape, Applied EI provides the tools and advice needed to develop and manage a relationship with yourself and create positive relationships with others - the twin cornerstones of emotional intelligence. We're all capable of acting with emotional intelligence. Most of us don't, because internal interferences - misguided beliefs and attitudes learnt in childhood - get in the way. Countering this, Applied EI attaches unique importance to the role of attitudes in developing and applying emotional intelligence. Tim Sparrow and Amanda Knight stress that EI isn't a synonym for personality; it's about managing personality. That's why knowing how to put EI into practice is essential. And that's why reducing EI to a single number or score misses the point, and serves only to give us another measure by which to judge ourselves and others. Anyone interested in performance improvement today needs to be interested in emotional intelligence. Applied EI shows how our attitudes underpin our EI, explores how to develop emotionally intelligence attitudes, and lays out tactics for applying them in practice. It discusses what is needed at individual, team and leadership development levels, and considers what it means to be an EI practitioner. Its practical approach and unique perspective make it a must-read for anyone involved in the field of personal development.

Emotional Intelligence

Although there is some dispute about what constitutes human intelligence or human emotion (and how it can be successfully measured), this booklet suggests that the term emotional intelligence or EQ draws on two simple concepts: intelligence applying knowledge appropriately, and being emotionally astute (tuned in) that is, applying feelings appropriately. Emotional intelligence is driven by two major factors: a persons basic drive or motivation, and the relative structure or flexibility of their thinking about themselves and others. This booklet presents a four style EQ model that both creates awareness about ones own natural tendencies and offers strategies that can be adopted to become more emotionally intelligent and balanced in terms of employing all four styles whenever situations or circumstances are appropriate. Rapid Skill Builder Series Team Briefing Booklets are short, sharp and succinct resources provide best practice thinking on a range of key topics and are currently available in 40 titles. They are designed to provide a practical method for improving skills and focus on explaining the main steps in the process. On the back page of each booklet, a template illustrates how the process fits together for practical and immediate application.These resources can be used in many settings, including: staff meetings or other group gatherings where time is limited and you want to discuss a specific skill or topic; pre-course work (to provide a brief and practical introduction to a topic); one-on-one or group coaching; self development; any other situation where a practical best practice process is required and time is limited. This series is also available in e-learning and t-learning formats. Inquire directly with the publisher at www.od-center.org.

The Emotional Intelligence Activity Book

We've all heard of "IQ"...but what's "EQ?" It's "Emotional Quotient" (aka Emotional Intelligence), and experts say that EQ is a greater predictor of success at work than IQ. Companies are increasingly looking for ways to motivate and develop their employees' emotional intelligence. This book presents trainers and coaches with 50 innovative exercises to be used for either individuals or groups. The activities found in the book are grouped according to the various core competencies associated with Emotional Intelligence: * Self-Awareness and Control: an awareness of one's values, emotions, skills, and drives, and the ability to control one's emotional responses * Empathy: an understanding of how others perceive situations * Social Expertness: the ability to build relationships based on an assumption of human equality * Mastery of Vision: the development and communication of a personal philosophy The book also includes suggested training combinations and coaching tips.