Emotional Intelligence in a Personal and Professional Environment

According to Raz (2014), emotional intelligence is defined as our ability to receive and process, and respond to emotions. Emotional intelligence is an incredibly important part of communicating with others, both in a personal and professional environment. It can have a great impact on ones ability to lead and manage an organization or team. Additionally, emotional intelligence is vital in being able to have self-assessment and reflection. Without emotional intelligence, it can be hard to process ones own emotions and react accordingly. 1. How does EI differ from traditional conceptions of intelligence?Emotional intelligence varies drastically from the other traditional concepts of intelligence. One of the clearest examples is emotional vs. cognitive intelligence. When comparing emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence, they differ both in the traditional behaviors of both concepts and in the results from applying them. Cognitive intelligence focuses on abilities to quickly process data in order to make decisions. Therefore, these would-be facts based and less emotional based. Emotional intelligence is typically a slower process as one attempts to really understand someone's feelings.According to a study conducted by the Administrative Science Quarterly (2006), it was found that in environments with higher amounts of emotional intelligence results in increased job performance. Consequentially, the study also found that higher amounts of cognitive intelligence in a work environment results in decreased job performance. This is most likely due to the fact that having the ability to build connections with your coworkers and employees results in a more positive environment. This would result in a more efficient, team-based workplace that keeps others feels and ideas in mind.2. After completing the emotional intelligence test, do you think that emotional intelligence can be learned? Do you see value in focusing on working to increase your emotional intelligence? Why or why not?Emotional intelligence cannot be simply read in a textbook and immediately learned. The way we process and react to emotions of others and ourselves is highly influenced by how we were raised throughout our childhood. To change something that has developed over the course many years can be very difficult. It requires significant self-reflection and effort in order to increase emotional intelligence. You must be able to break old habits and consistently attempt to create new ones that promote emotional intelligence. This can be extremely difficult, but it isnt impossible.There is value in working to increase your emotional intelligence. According to Peter Ellis, implementing emotional intelligence can help managers gain trust and respect from their employees (2017). Being viewed as trustworthy is incredibly important, especially in healthcare where you are responsible for taking care of people. Having emotional intelligence makes for better leadership qualities. Upon taking an emotional intelligence test, it was divided into four topics: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. This is immensely beneficial because it can help identify problem areas in emotional intelligence and is the first part of being self-aware for personal growth.3. Is there a relationship between EI and leadership, between EI and motivation? How would you define those relationships?Emotional intelligence and leadership go together hand in hand. To be a good leader, you must be able to connect with your people. If youre unable to accomplish this, it could lead to many workplace conflicts like unapproachability, cliques, and gossip. Without emotional intelligence, you cannot properly empower your employees. This could potentially cause a missed opportunity for innovative and creative ideas to expand the company.In conjunction, emotional intelligence fits in well with motivation as well. According to Edwin Locke, the three types of motivation are intrinsic, extrinsic, and achievement (2018). Since everyone is different, it's important to have the emotional intelligence to figure out what kind of motivation pushes your employees to be their best. For example, a manager could be holding a competition for extra compensation time. However, if you have intrinsically motivated individuals, this will not motivate them to work hard. Taking the time to understand what motivates your employees is an extremely important component of having high emotional intelligence.

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