You may never really have thought about it before but the soft skills you have developed throughout your life are an essential element to most any employment you seek. In his book Working With Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman suggests that it is not your intellect, experience or skills that make you successful; rather, it is your emotional intelligence – how well you can “read” other people’s emotions and feelings in the workplace.

“Emotional Intelligence is a master aptitude, a capacity that profoundly affects all other abilities, either facilitating or interfering with them.”
–Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, p. 80.

The term Emotional Intelligence encompasses five core characteristics and abilities that everyone possesses to some extent. Just as the ability exists to measure someone’s Intellect or Intelligence Quotient (IQ), there is the ability to measure a persons Emotional Intelligence (EIQ) or as Daniel Goleman refers to it above “master aptitude.”

Self-awareness–knowing your emotions, recognizing feelings as they occur, and discriminating between them.
Mood management–handling feelings so they’re relevant to the current situation and you react appropriately.
Self-motivation–”gathering up” your feelings and directing yourself towards a goal, despite self-doubt, inertia, and impulsiveness.
Empathy–recognizing feelings in others and tuning into their verbal and nonverbal cues.
Managing relationships–handling interpersonal interaction, conflict resolution, and negotiations.

Your emotional intelligence (EIQ) or “soft skills” have become increasingly more important in our ever changing and fiercely competitive industrial world. More and more businesses realize their employees need to be well versed in both relating to their customer base as well as their co-workers and peers. From showing a keen sense of perspective and optimism, to extreme self-awareness and understanding for what is happening all around them.

One of the best indicators of a strong emotional intelligence is the ability to work within a team environment. But bear in mind, being a good team environmentalist involves more than bearing your share of the workload; it also necessitates being a leader when necessary and recognizing when to do so; knowing when to share your opinions and ideas or when to defer to others; and understanding how to stay on track to achieve the best possible results while minimizing conflict and tension. As with any ability, there is a broad spectrum or range. Understanding where you fit within that master capacity is a good way to develop and enhance it.

Two more important gauges of an above average emotional intelligence are communication skills. No matter how many wrinkles you have in your brain or how high your IQ sores, you are quite likely to go unnoticed if you cannot effectively communicate your thoughts and ideas to others. This is why so many job listings seek candidates with strong communication skills, especially in public speaking. Employers seek job candidates who are not going to lie down and curl up into the fetal position every time they are required to speak out loud.

A few more characteristics of EIQ include being flexible and adaptable. Often, you may be required to collaborate with individuals who possess a completely different knowledge base or tangential perceptive than that of your own. Flexibility promotes creativity and innovation and is what keeps businesses and organizations successful as they navigate tumultuous business cycles and changes in technology and industry. Having employees who are flexible, adaptable, and creative keep them on the cutting edge of business and opportunity.

Do you know your own EIQ? The internet is a great place to set out to learn your EIQ or validate what you think you already know about yourself. You can go to Google and find numerous articles and links to information, resources, and EIQ tests. Go on, give it a try and see how you measure up.