What is the Emotional Quotient?

by Arika

It's understandable why we place such value on the intelligence quotient (IQ). After all, our society tends to place a high-value education and measuring one’s problem-solving ability. But what about the emotional quotient? To some, this seems like a foreign concept; but to many, this can actually be more important than the intelligence quotient. Strong emotional intelligence allows you to navigate through life easier. Not only can your EQ affect yourself, but it can also affect your ability to read the cues other people and learn how to react appropriately.

Emotional intelligence is not simply maturity, it has 5 components that help us gain skills required to understand the world around us, empathize when others are suffering, and become better negotiators with ourselves and our teams.

Let’s take a look at the five categories of the emotional quotient a little more closely:

1. Self-Awareness

Being self-aware means you recognize the emotions that are happening to you at the moment. This often requires that you evaluate your feelings and how those affect you. When you evaluate those feelings, you can learn how to manage them. Some components of self-awareness are being emotionally aware and realizing how your emotions affect you and others as well as being self-confident in knowing your value.

2. Self-Expression

How we express ourselves says a lot about our character. Media, clothes, and even our hair cut are ways to express ourselves. This component of the EQ deals with our independence as well as our assertiveness. This can influence whether we are open to new ideas or perceptions other than our own.

3. Interpersonal

While all five components are essential and valuable, interpersonal communication is one of the most crucial skills that can directly affect your success. How you interact with those around you otherwise known as your “people skills” can determine a lot about your character and set standards for your career. This affects the way you influence those around you, your communication skills, the leadership you possess, and more.

4. Decision Making

We often don’t have much control when we experience emotions, however, it's crucial for our decision making to learn how to develop techniques on how we respond to those emotions. By utilizing certain techniques, we can remove our qualms, ease our anger and depression, and reduce anxiety or any other negative emotions that might influence our ability to make decisions. Decision making does require some problem solving but it also forces us to think about the reality of things. Often times there are stories we tell ourselves which can create narratives that we believe without any real facts. Our decisions can be affected by our self-control.

5. Stress Management

The way we respond to stress is extremely important to contemplate. This can affect our adaptability and the way we can handle change in a flexible way. This can easily affect how negative or positive we are because when we can’t manage stress in a healthy way, it manifests in other areas and can create a new set of problems. This is highly linked to how we perform and our wellbeing overall. Have you ever been curious about how you can manage your stress better? There are many techniques that can be used to manage and overcome stress.

Emotional intelligence is the key to improving how effective you are personally. It is the foundation for how we react to situations, how we deal with stress, and manage those impulsive behaviors.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can find clarity, understand your purpose, and take action in your life — let's schedule a call to take an emotional assessment.