Attitude or Qualifications? Workplace Competencies Redefined

Somewhere throughout our lives we've all heard someone say something to the effect of "... if you pursue your education and get accredited, you'll get that job, and will have everything you to need to become successful in this world..."

But do you ever scratch your head at the thought of less qualified individuals experiencing more success compared to others who are more skilled? Or have you ever noticed some individuals with happy-go-lucky attitudes, who seem to not be bothered by much, somehow manage to climb ahead?

Then look no further. Though the ability to effectively rationalize helps us in making sensible decisions, our competencies in managing our emotions and the ways in which we cope and respond to certain events are becoming more evident and detrimental to an individual's success than ever before. Considerably twice more important than IQ and technical skills, Emotional Intelligence is beginning to become more popular in the workplace than anywhere else proving as the new means of determining top performers in the workplace.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence (or its causal short hand, EQ) refers to the skills that define our means of understanding, reasoning, and managing our own feelings and those around us, as well as the ability of how we perceive, control, and evaluate our emotions. Compared to Intelligence Quotient (IQ), which only contributes an average of 20% to the factors that determine life success, Emotional Intelligence is proven to have more influence concerning the type of thoughts we have, including our behaviors, and decisions we make.

Because our emotions are able to affect us in these ways, they play a significant role in our communication as well. For example, if we feel negatively about something or someone, our tendencies of appraising the event will respond accordingly as these feelings can be heard in our tone of voice, or even observed by our body language and facial expressions. Therefore it is important to note that our emotions play a large role in our outward displays.

Emotionally unintelligent individuals (regardless how high their IQ may be), aren't as proficient in their ability to communicate, establish relationships, or cope, compared to those of greater competencies in this area.

To gain a better understanding of Emotional Intelligence, below lists its five major components:

1. knowing our emotions
2. managing our emotions