In the field of adult learning, quite a lot of evidence has been gathered to support the argument that raising EQ gives a bottom line benefit, particularly for those involved in sales.
The theory is that a large part of one’s performance effectiveness is due to being emotionally clued up, rather than relying on technological knowledge or expertise.
Also, the good news is it’s far easier to improve your EQ than your IQ and for many of us there is a significant pay back if we can up our EQ levels.
The concept of EQ was brought into the mainstream by Daniel Goleman in his 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence, in which he identified five areas that can be worked on to improve your EQ:
1. Knowing your emotions – understanding why you feel the way you do in any situation.
2. Managing your own emotions – reacting in a way appropriate to the situation.
3. Motivating yourself – money and status are ‘external’ rewards, what is your passion to work for ‘internal’ reasons?
4. Recognising and understanding other people’s emotions – empathy.
5. Managing the emotions of others, ie managing relationships – do you achieve win-wins?
So if you’re feeling that you want to work on your EQ here are my tips:
– Start reading around the subject; Goleman’s books are a good starting point or there’s the internet.
– Consciously seek more feedback from those around you on the stuff you need to hear not always what you want to hear.
– Practise disclosing more about how you feel. Observe others who you perceive as being highly effective with people – notice the risks they take with what they disclose. High EQ = low insecurity = more openness.
– If you’ve used assessment tools in the past to understand your strengths and vulnerabilities, it might be worth reading them again – pay attention to how you feel about any perceived negatives.
– Develop your listening skills by asking open questions – ‘listening is the best way to get your point across’.
– If you have the opportunity, work with a mentor or coach to improve your EQ.
This is likely to be a ‘slow burn’ for most people particularly if you are completely new to EQ. However, understanding the notion and how you can improve could bring with it some unexpected rewards.
Peter Welch is head of sales and distribution at Bridgewater Equity Release
