This is a guest post from Melisa Marzett. Melisa is a freelance writer currently working for a thesis writing service.
Emotional intelligence (EI) is one of the most critical indicators affecting the success of an employee’s career in many positions. Every HR manager should know what it is. Different levels of emotional intelligence play a role in various areas of life and can be assessed using different tests.
Intellect is a person’s ability to think logically, make the right decisions, learn and apply the knowledge gained in practice. Now there are many different methods to assess the intelligence of a person with sufficiently high accuracy. Therefore, various tests used to evaluate this indicator are widely used in labor relations.
Standard IQs do not always reflect the ability of an employee to conduct work effectively. High intelligence is not still a guarantee of career growth and development. Average or even relatively low IQ doesn’t mean complete lack of competence of the employee.
Why is EI important?
Understanding that IQ isn’t everything, various psychologists and HR officers in the 20th century began to look for other criteria for evaluating employees and job applicants. One of these indicators was emotional intelligence, which more accurately reflects the potential of the working people.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to operate primarily not with knowledge, but with emotions. It means the ability to understand and interpret, and also to use for one’s purposes both one`s own and everyone else`s feelings.
Accordingly, taking into account the peculiarity of such an indicator, it is far from always correlated with the standard interpretation of general human intelligence. There are many examples of highly sought-after and fashionable people with a relatively small IQ, as well as vice versa – many antisocial or simply uncommunicative and unable to interact with other people may experience a high IQ effectively.
Indicators of emotional intelligence are essential contrary to common belief, for not only employees of sales departments and other employees who communicate directly with customers. No less important is the marked characteristic for managers, since it directly reflects their ability to manage the team and conduct sufficient work.
Also, it is relevant for other categories of workers directly related to working with other people, including within the enterprise. Particularly applicable are the high requirements for emotional intelligence for HR managers and recruiters.
When to incorporate EQ testing
As a criterion by which current employees and, in particular, job seekers can be assessed, social intelligence is a rather useful indicator for HR managers. However, it should not always be used, since its assessment has both certain advantages and disadvantages.
The benefits of evaluating social intelligence when hiring
- More precise imagery of efficiency in many positions compared to an assessment of the coefficient of general knowledge.
- The possibility of a comprehensive assessment of the candidate – in many workplaces applicants is only required to meet high requirements for individual levels of emotional intelligence, while the influence of the rest may be limited or insignificant, which allows for correct selection.
- High efficiency in the selection of candidates for executive positions. High levels of emotional intelligence are a must-have quality of a perfect leader, often even more important than professional knowledge.
- Ease of testing. Most tests of emotional intelligence are presented in the form of universal questionnaires that do not require any knowledge or skills from the interviewer. At the same time, an audit can even be conducted by testing without the personal participation of a human resources representative or HR manager.
A smart leader or owner of the company will make every possible effort to find a way to motivate their employees. The manager knows that motivated staff is productive staff who can lead a company to the path of prosperity. An essential component of motivation is the understanding and use of emotional intelligence in the workplace. Darwin was one of the originators who spoke of emotional intelligence as a feature of survival, but in the business world, this concept has gained importance only recently.
There are several different definitions of emotional intelligence components, but they all converge to understanding emotions and using them as motivation. A good leader needs to learn to understand his feelings and how to direct these emotions in a positive direction. Then they need to learn to recognize the sensations in their employees and customers and use them with maximum benefit.
An example of emotional intelligence in sales is the understanding that buying a car means more to a large number of people than just purchasing a vehicle. Choosing a car can be seen as a personal reward or a symbol of position in society or even a character trait of someone’s personality. Just offering the best option or the car with the most optimal fuel consumption would ignore the emotional reaction of the client, say, to the red sports car compared to the off-the-road vehicle. The ability to capture results will help salespeople determine the potential choice of customers and accordingly make a sale. The same importance is the adverse reaction. A smart salesperson is always watching for a grimace or raised eyebrow that indicates skepticism or unwanted response to a model or trademark of a product. It allows you to get more information about what exactly a buyer wants to acquire and find what meets both his/her practical needs and emotional needs.
Emotional intelligence is of particular importance in service companies. The service is a product, and the consumer’s response to this product is a real indicator of success. Consumers understand whether the satisfaction of their needs or the company creates the appearance of work.
The ability to perceive the emotions of employees is just as important as the perception of the feelings of consumers and customers. Satisfied and happy with their work, employees tend to be more productive and have more positive interpersonal relationships with their colleagues, as well as customers.
A large number of studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and productivity and that employees who are aware of their own emotions and understand the emotional reactions of other people are usually excellent and satisfied employees. In the same way, the ability to capture negative emotions and direct them into something harmless can prevent confusion and disorder in work.
About the Author: Jocelyn Pick
