Your IQ is set at age 17 and does not change. But your Emotional Intelligence (EQ) can be grown and developed over time.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ability to express yourself, relate to others, deal with strong emotions, control your impulses, adapt to change, and solve problems of a personal or social nature.
The EQ assessment measures all fifteen EQ competencies, all of which can be improved with practice. This assessment gives you crucial self-awareness into your current level of social and emotional functioning. EQ coaching helps you come up with actionable strategies to grow your EQ.
Back in July 2020, I took an EQ assessment as part of my EQ coaching certification. I was not surprised that my self-regard score was very low. Self-regard is an important component of confidence. I’ve struggled with low self-confidence most of my life.
My coach encouraged me to focus on my strengths and to learn new skills to boost my self-regard. I enrolled in coach training and learned to ski with my kids and slowly began to feel more confident and less plagued with self-doubt.
EQ is the key to leadership
Leaders must be empathetic to the needs of their team members while still being assertive in giving directions. Effective communication requires a balance between the EQ competencies of empathy and assertiveness.
I recently worked with a leader of a software development team in Israel who scored very high in empathy but struggled with assertiveness. After gaining crucial self-awareness through EQ coaching, she reported being able to run her weekly team meetings more effectively by becoming more comfortable interjecting when the meeting went off topic and bringing the focus back to the agenda items.
The role of emotions in problem-solving
Emotional self-awareness is the ability to recognize your feelings, differentiate between them, know why you are feeling these feelings and recognize the impact of your feelings on those around you.
One of my clients, who is taking on her first leadership role in property management, scored high in problem-solving but low in emotional self-awareness. In our coaching session, she came up with the action plan to start journaling about her emotions to understand her emotions better. She is now finding the links between the different emotions she is experiencing and the situations or triggers that bring on these emotions. This has increased her emotional self-awareness, which is helping her problem-solving ability at work and in her personal life.
Is your EQ in the leadership range? Set up an EQ assessment with me to find out.
