What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, as well as recognise the emotions of others. 

For example, imagine you’re completing an exam and you reach a particularly challenging question. You notice that you’re becoming increasingly stressed and frustrated, but rather than letting this emotional experience escalate further, you take several calming breaths and read the question slowly until it makes sense. By recognising your emotions, and utilising a stress management technique to regulate them, you’ve demonstrated emotional intelligence. 

There are five key components of emotional intelligence:

  1. Self-awareness. Observing and understanding your emotions with open-mindedness and knowing how your emotions can influence your thoughts and actions.
  2. Self-regulation. Using healthy strategies and tools to manage your emotional responses, such as employing a deep breathing technique or talking with someone you trust to help manage negative emotions.
  3. Motivation. Harnessing your emotions to help you make positive changes in your life and pursue your professional and personal goals.
  4. Empathy. Recognising how other people feel and responding appropriately.
  5. Social skills. Also known as soft skills, social skills encompass a range of abilities that we use to interact and communicate with others. Social skills help us build stronger relationships and maintain them over time.

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Why is emotional intelligence important?

We sat down with Marie Ball, a lecturer in management and marketing at Charles Sturt University. Marie is a human resource consultant who specialises in working with teams to help them understand themselves and each other in order to build cooperative capability. 

“If you’re self-aware, you know how you feel and you know how your emotions and your actions can affect the people around you, you can control and manage yourself. This is particularly useful when you are under pressure and in difficult situations.”

Someone who is emotionally intelligent might demonstrate enhanced decision-making because they understand how their emotions influence their thoughts and actions. They have good social awareness and notice emotional cues in themselves and others. They also tend to make effective leaders as they care about the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of their team and know how to provide support. 

Speaking of emotional intelligence in the workplace, it can play an important role in job performance and satisfaction.

Employers now recognise that it isn’t just enough for their workers to just complete the technical aspects of their job. Nowadays, employers expect more. You’re expected to add value to meetings, be emotionally aware, take on feedback and collaborate with others. Your communication skills and interpersonal skills are important too. You need to have a handle on hard skills – and soft skills. And emotional intelligence is one of the soft skills that you need to master if you want to succeed in the workplace and demonstrate leadership skills that could take your career to the next level.

And why do employers look for candidates with emotional intelligence skills?

Marie said, “Having emotional intelligence allows staff to navigate all the social situations that occur in the workplace. By being more aware, and understanding yourself and others, you can minimise conflict and stress in the workplace. You can communicate more effectively and cultivate stronger working relationships.”

How can I measure my emotional intelligence?

Your emotional intelligence can be measured through various methods, such as an emotional intelligence assessment or feedback from others. To gain an accurate understanding of your emotional intelligence, it might help to work with a psychologist or another professional in the field.

It can also be worthwhile to observe your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Do you: 

  • know your strengths and weaknesses and use these to your advantage? 
  • practise key skills, such as conflict resolution and assertiveness? 
  • set healthy boundaries and communicate them clearly? 
  • take care of your social and emotional wellbeing and ask for help when you need it?
  • improve relationships with people who have a positive impact on your life? 

These can all be signs of emotional intelligence, and they might positively impact your health and wellbeing. Searching for new ways to boost your emotional intelligence? Let’s take a look!

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How can you improve your emotional intelligence?

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Step 1: Start with self-awareness.

Check in with yourself on a regular basis and make time for self-reflection. How do you feel at different times of the day and night? Does anything trigger strong emotional responses? What helps you manage your emotions effectively? Are there other factors that seem to influence your emotions, such as poor sleep, dehydration or attachment style? The aim of self-awareness isn’t to judge yourself, but simply to gain insight into your thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

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Step 2: Practise self-regulation.

When you feel a strong emotion, try to pause before reacting and think about how you’d like to respond. You might like to employ helpful coping mechanisms, such as breathing techniques, self-care activities, journaling or meditation to help you process your emotions.

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Step 3: Develop social skills.

Even if you have to go outside your comfort zone, invest time and effort into building strong relationships. Be supportive, reliable and compassionate. Work on expressing yourself honestly and respectfully. Keep in mind, you don’t have to be ‘the life of the party’ or change your entire personality to develop strong social skills! 

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Step 4: Practise empathy and compassion.

Have you heard the saying, “Try walking a mile in someone else’s shoes”? This means it’s important to see situations from other people’s perspectives so you can better understand their feelings and actions. How would you wish to be treated if you were in their position? 

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Step 5: Keep learning.

Improving your emotional intelligence is a lifelong endeavour. As you gain life experiences and learn new things, you can deepen your sense of compassion for yourself and others. You might discover new coping mechanisms that help you remain calm in challenging situations or resolve conflict in better ways. You’ll probably make some mistakes, but that’s okay! They’re opportunities for learning, too.

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Soft skills: What are they, and why do you need them?

More and more, we’re hearing that employers are looking for soft skills, in addition to technical professional skills.

So, what exactly are soft skills?

Soft skills relate more to your general disposition and personality, and are less specialised, less rooted in specific vocations. Soft skills are things like good listening skills, a positive attitude, resilience and the ability to give and receive feedback.

Marie knows how important soft skills are in today’s world – and she thinks communication is key.

“Soft skills are paramount in the workforce today. Being able to communicate effectively, cooperate with others, give and receive feedback, lead with purpose and problem-solve are all really important skills to have. It’s great to be in an environment where you can excel using your technical abilities, but it’s also great to use your soft skills to advance the goals of the organisation.”

So now you know all about soft skills and why you need to have them – want to know how to get them?

What is single subject study, and why is it useful?

At Charles Sturt University, we have an exciting option called single subject study.

We’ll let Marie break it down for you.

“Single subject study allows you to road-test a subject to see if you enjoy it, before committing to a full degree. It’s a great opportunity if you’re taking the first steps towards a degree, returning to study, or preparing for a change in your career.”

Plenty of the subjects on offer are related to soft skills. There’s even one about interpersonal relationships and social development.

Wondering how best to go about it? Marie’s got the lowdown.

“Identify your area of interest and investigate the single subjects available online. You could also have a chat with our advisers about what you’re looking for and the best option for you.”

What next?

It’s important to build stronger emotional intelligence so you can achieve your personal and professional goals. Choose some areas you’d like to work on, such as communication or compassion, and start implementing strategies to build your capabilities.

Don’t forget to check out our single subjects you can study to help yourself along – including Developmental and Social Psychology. You’ll find everything you need to know about the subjects on offer, how to apply and the cost.

Can’t find what you’re looking for? We’re always here to help. Just reach out.

FAQs

Is emotional quotient the same as emotional intelligence? 

Emotional quotient and emotional intelligence refer to the same concept. However, emotional intelligence is the broader concept that encompasses the ability to understand and manage emotions while emotional quotient is the score or metric used to assess your level of emotional intelligence. Essentially, emotional quotient is an emotional intelligence measure.

What does it mean if I have low emotional intelligence?

You might face challenges with understanding and regulating your emotions and maintaining strong social relationships. You might experience frequent emotional outbursts or use poor coping skills to manage stress, anger or setbacks. It could be difficult for you to fully grasp other people’s emotional states and unintentionally say or do things that hurt their feelings. 

But don’t worry if you experience some of the signs of low emotional intelligence. You can develop emotional intelligence with practice by learning how to engage in active listening, paying attention to your thoughts and feelings, practising emotion regulation and learning from strong emotional responses. You could also do emotional intelligence training with a qualified professional, such as a psychologist who specialises in the field.

What are some of the benefits of emotional intelligence? 

When you work on your ability to understand and manage your emotions, you can experience greater resilience,  job satisfaction and empathy while decreasing your emotional outbursts and number of poor decisions.

Increasing your ability to understand other people’s emotions can also lead to stronger relationships, improved communication and enhanced conflict resolution.