Career Management
EQ: The other kind of smarts
September 2009

Do you know that there is a workplace “smart” different from the academic kind? The answer has to do with the concept known as emotional intelligence (EQ). It is the foundation for a host of critical skills, including stress tolerance, time management, decision making, customer service and assertive communication.

In the new book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (TalentSmart, 2009) by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, EQ is named as the No. 1 predictor of personal and professional success. By researching more than 500,000 people, the authors discovered that 90 percent of top performers rate high in EQ. If you are an administrative professional who is trying to advance, EQ is a theory you need to understand and it should be part of your professional development plans.

Fortunately, your EQ level can be improved and refined. To help with developing EQ, authors Bradberry and Greaves have created over 65 practical strategies and have fit them into the following four major skill areas:

• Self-awareness. The ability to accurately perceive emotions in the moment is required by office workers. Self-awareness allows you to adjust quickly to changing priorities and management styles with calm professionalism. A strategy to improve this EQ skill is to stop treating feelings as either good or bad. For example, we may label our feelings of anger or jealousy toward a co-worker as “bad.” The downfall of attaching labels to emotions is that it can limit self-awareness. When you acknowledge an emotion, you are able to understand what is causing it. This self-understanding can prevent you from responding in the heat of the moment or reacting in ways that detract from your professional image. The next time you feel an emotion beginning to build, take notice of it and refrain from putting it into the good or bad pile. Remind yourself that the feeling is there to help you understand something important. An employee with high self-awareness takes time to understand her feelings about situations or discussions before acting on them. Analyzing circumstances before offering suggestions can allow you to quickly and efficiently find solutions to problems.
• Self-management. This refers to the ability to manage your emotional reactions to situations and people, and sometimes even putting momentary needs on hold to pursue larger, more important goals. A strategy to improve this EQ skill is to focus attention on freedoms instead of limitations. For example, there is always a choice in how to respond to situations. Even when you cannot do or say anything to change a difficult situation, you have control over your perspective of what is happening. The next time you are in a workplace situation when you find yourself thinking you have no control, take a closer look at how you are reacting. Take accountability and concentrate your energy on the choice you have. An employee with high self-management is patient and understanding during heated, emotionally charged meetings and maintains a high standard of conduct in communicating.
• Social awareness. This is the ability to recognize emotions in others and to appreciate what is really going on by listening and observing without letting personal thoughts and feelings act as a distraction. A strategy to improve this EQ skill is to understand cultural differences. The workplace today is a melting pot of different cultures. Improving cross-cultural skills is critical and an effective way to do this is by thinking of yourself as new in town. How would you like to be treated? The secret to winning the culture game is to treat everyone with respect in order to break down barriers and build up appreciation. An employee with high social awareness has the ability to acknowledge other people’s feelings and adapt his communication style to help reach a resolution. For example, in staff meetings this person listens to others and responds respectfully and directly to what others are saying or doing. This is the person who strengthens the team.
• Relationship management. This is the bond you build with others over time as a result of how you understand people, how you treat them and the history you share. But relationship-management can pose the biggest challenge in the office because conflicts can silently fester and then people can unexpectedly explode in frustration. A strategy to improve relationship management is to explain decisions, not just make them. When employees are in the dark about issues including company mergers, possible staff downsizing or policy changes, it is natural to have negative reactions to these decisions. So if you are a messenger of change, be sure to explain why a change is being made, what is behind the decision and why the final choice was made. An example of an employee with a high relationship management skill is someone who announces organizational changes with thoughtful insight and consultation with others whenever possible.

If you want to know why sometimes supposedly brilliant and well-educated people struggle with success while others with fewer obvious skills or attributes flourish, EQ is the factor that makes the difference. If you want to move forward with your career goals, take time to assess your EQ, the other kind of workplace smart. Although education and experience may open doors and get you the job, EQ is the real key to long-term success.

Lisa Trudel, a career consultant with the Office Workers Career Centre in Toronto (officeworkers.org), contributed this article. Trudel assists unemployed administrative professionals through career transitions.