Gone are the days when intelligence was just a measure of what our brain could just do in numerics. We are long past the era of defining one’s ability with just the numbers defined in an intelligence test and we’ve paved our way into a broader look towards intelligence. With psychologists and psychiatrists working around the globe, we’ve come a long way in defining one’s own ability or even intelligence. With the introduction of the concept of emotional intelligence, people have started to look into it more positively. A lot of people around started giving it a thought. But what exactly is this emotional intelligence? How does it help an individual? Does this really affect one’s performance? The list of questions goes on and on. Let’s get a better understanding of emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence was a concept developed by Daniel Goleman in the year 1995 through his book. That was a major breakout to a different world of thoughts towards the concept of intelligence.  Defining it in simple terms, emotional intelligence otherwise called EQ( Emotional Quotient) is the ability to understand, manage and communicate one’s own emotions and feelings. It can also be defined as the ability to perceive, demonstrate, control, interpret, evaluate, and use emotions to communicate with and relate to others effectively and constructively. In the book, Emotional intelligence 2.0, it is defined as “your ability to recognise and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behaviour and relationships.” But, is this EQ very important? Yes indeed. As social beings, we would have to encounter social interactions multiple times a day and as we’ve already defined emotional intelligence can help an individual to communicate effectively one’s feelings and emotions. So, how we understand our own emotions, situations and people around us can be defined make or break the circle around us. The concept of emotional intelligence helps us in understanding ourselves and others in a social context and lets us know the deeper reasons. A high emotional intelligence helps us channelise towards a kind and calm state than angry, stressed and frustrated beings. There is a number of tools for the assessment of emotional intelligence generally divided into 2 categories: Self-report tests and ability test. Apart from this, mental health professionals also use scales like Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)  And the Emotional and Social Competence Inventory (ESCI) As formal questionnaires.

The EQ has four dimensions or pillars which are considered to be the step.

1)Self Awareness

After becoming aware of our own self, it’s very important to regulate them. Before regulating your emotions, one should perceive your emotions, understand those feelings on technical level, interpret the meaning of those emotions.Self management helps one self to gives a deeper understanding of oneself.

This concept is also called as interpersonal management. One of The factor that clearly distinguishes IQ from EQ is it’s social factor. In order to manage a social situation really well, it’s very important that one become aware of self and others and is able to manage both of them responsibly. One with good qualities in relationship management can easily manage stress, will be empathetic, will be aware of his/her surroundings well and can make wise decisions easily.

EQ is balancing perfectly within these areas. But the happy news is that with practice and time, you can excel in all of these four dimensions. While writing for a company, Harvey Deutchendorf reported that   “According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, ‘The awareness that emotional intelligence is an important job skill, in some cases even surpassing technical ability, has been growing in recent years. In a 2011 Career Builder Survey of more than 2,600 hiring managers and human resource professionals, 71 % stated they valued emotional intelligence in an employee over IQ; 75 % said they were more likely to promote a highly emotionally intelligent worker; and 59 % claimed they’d pass up a candidate with a high IQ but low emotional intelligence.’” Researches are ongoing on the correlation between emotional intelligence in business and leadership. The concept of business emotional intelligence has been introduced recently to practically apply the knowledge to the field. The business emotional intelligence helps oneself to use intrapersonal and emotional intelligence qualities to focus of critical emotions and behavioural traits that predicts and occupational performance. The scale consist of seven main emotional clusters that focus on the behavioural drives and emotions that predicts one’s success.The Seven scales mentioned are decisiveness, motivation , influence, adaptability, empathy, conscientiousness, stress reliance and self awareness. Researches are still going on in this field for effective implementation. Application and implementation of the concept of emotional intelligence into your personal, professional and business life can definitely help you with your internal and external satisfaction and coping and management abilities.