|
I was speaking to another father recently and he was telling me how smart his 5 year old boy was and how he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that his son has the best education possible. To me this sounds like this father is focusing on increasing the intellectual intelligence of his son but at no time during the conversation did this father mention anything about developing his son’s emotional intelligence. Looking back at my own personal experience in school, there seems to be little to no correlation between good leaving certificate results and success in later life. I grew up when everyone believed that if you studied hard and did well at school, went to college, studied even harder, you would be “successful”. Well, why does this not always work out? How can people with little to no interest in school do so well in the big bad world and conversely how do some people who seem to have all the “brains” never seem to be happy and are not pleasant to be around? Obviously there is a multitude of reasons why people turn out the way they are and one very powerful factor is one’s emotional intelligence. I came across a recent industry research (Goleman 1998) study that found that 80% of the difference between high performers and average performers in leadership roles was due to emotional intelligence (EQ) while the remaining 20% was due to intellectual intelligence (IQ) factors. Emotional intelligence is; o SELF AWARENESS - knowing what you are feeling
o SELF -REGULATION– knowing how to control your emotions
o MOTIVATION – how to keep going in the face of discouragement
o EMPATHY – how to read emotions in others
o SOCIAL SKILLS – influencing and handling other people’s emotions The better you are to these core skills the more likely you will be happy, fulfilled and successful in life. By having good emotional intelligence, you are able to build better relationships, reduce your stress levels, and adapt to change in a positive way, make an overall more positive impact on other people and as a result be more effective in what you do. Many Leadership and Management development training programs now dedicate a sizable amount of time to EQ, helping people understand it and to harness it to become more effective at work.
When you recruit, do you look for the most intelligent person every time? Whether you do or not, perhaps it would be worth while spending some focused effort and time establishing applicants emotional intelligence particularly if you want people working for you who will grow, evolve and develop with the company.
For more information on Emotional Intelligence and EQ testing, you could check out www.eiconsortium.org .
For parents reading this, by all means encourage your children to work and study hard but also give them the opportunity to become more emotionally aware, give them permission to express their feelings, teach them key communication skills. Teach them how to engage and interact with other people and how to view change in a positive way and not to fear it. Fergal O’Connor is a Business and Personal Life Coach working in partnership with his Business and Private clients providing a supportive, confidential, challenging and non-judgemental environment to make their ambitions and dreams a reality. Fergal also facilitates a range of Coaching and Management training programs, Team facilitation workshops and is available for public speaking engagements. Fergal can be contacted at Synergy Coaching Services, Tel: (061) 467287, email
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
web www.synergycoaching.ie Copyright © 2007 Synergy Coaching Services.
|
