Emotional Intelligence (EI)

 
Until relatively recently, a person’s intelligence had been regarded as being about their ability to think and solve problems logically. This is referred to as a person’s IQ (Intelligence Quotient); it is a term that most people know, although that they may not fully understand it.

However, our brains and minds do much more than this, for example:
 

	We experience many contrasting feelings and emotions such as:          Happiness and Sadness, Satisfaction and Frustration, Calmness          and Anger and very many more
	We all experience intuition and “gut feelings”; some people pay more attention to these than do others
	We all see the world differently; we sense and interpret situations and people in different ways
	We have an ability to be aware of how we and other people are feeling
	We have the ability to manage ourselves and our emotions and those of other people

Taken together such abilities, plus many others, such as empathy and rapport, are now known collectively as Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ). The degree to which we understand and manage ourselves effectively and to have better awareness of others, their feelings and meanings of their interaction with us is a measure of our own EI. The diagram illustrates this relationship.

Being able to manage effectively the impact of your own feelings on your thinking, responses and behaviours in different situations is essential to any ability to manage others effectively. The less a person is in charge of themselves, the more likely they are to have unintended negative effects on others.

Being aware of how other people are likely to feel, are actually feeling and are likely to behave and respond in different circumstances and situations is fundamental to being able to manage them effectively, either in business or our day to day lives.

We all have such competencies; the degree to which a person uses them impacts hugely upon their ability to be a truly effective manager/mentor/motivator of people.

A person who is dogmatic, intolerant, insensitive to others and self orientated may be said to have a lower EQ than someone who demonstrates an empathic relationship, is considerate of others wishes and feelings and careful in their personal requirements of others.

In business having a high EQ will enable you to manage others more sensitively and this leads to greater performance all round. In your personal life, demonstrating EI will usually lead to better relationships and a more harmonious life or, provide you with a greater ability to cope with more demanding people in your life.

Here at The Paloma Centre, helping you to develop your EI “quotient”, both for your personal life and for use within the business environment, is an integral part of our general therapy routine but is something that we can focus on specifically should you so wish.