What do you think of when you hear the term emotional intelligence? It’s a big concept that can be difficult to define in simple terms. We could all probably describe what emotions are, as well as what intelligence is. But the two words together complicate things a bit, and might even seem contradictory.
Fortunately, experts in EQ have spent years researching everything that contributes to emotional intelligence, observing, naming, and categorizing the skills and competencies that add up to make someone emotionally intelligent. As you learn more about each aspect of emotional intelligence, your grasp on EQ will steadily improve.
If you’re looking to improve your EQ, understanding is the first step of the equation. This article will help you better understand emotional intelligence by exploring the two primary emotional intelligence competencies and how they complement one another.
The Emotional Intelligence Model: Putting the Pieces Together
The emotional intelligence model we use in all our assessments and training at TalentSmartEQ provides a detailed, comprehensive picture of the skills and competencies that make up emotional intelligence.
The table below gives a visual picture of how the four components of EQ fit together under the two primary EI competencies .
The four skills are divided into two competencies, one focused on the self and one focused on others. Within each competency, there is a skill related to seeing or observing, and a skill related to doing or responding.
Let’s take an in-depth look at the two emotional intelligence competencies and how they work together to complete the picture of emotional intelligence.
Personal Competence: Know Thyself
The first EI competency in the emotional intelligence model, personal competence, is the ability to stay aware of your emotions and manage your behavior and tendencies. It is more about you individually than your interactions with other people–how you deal internally with your emotions and what you do with them.
Personal competence is made up of the first two of the four core components of EQ: self-awareness and self-management. Let’s take a look at each of these skills in detail.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the ability to accurately perceive your own emotions in the moment and understand your tendencies across situations. A self-aware person is able to recognize when they are getting emotional in a situation, name the emotions they are feeling, and know how they typically behave when they feel those emotions.
Self-management
Self-management is the ability to use awareness of your emotions to direct your behavior positively. This is about what you do with your emotions once you recognize them. A person skilled at self-management is able to control the way they react to high-emotion situations or difficult people, setting aside their momentary reactions to pursue the larger goal at hand.
Social Competence: Know Others
The second EI competency in the emotional intelligence model is social competence, which is the ability to understand other people’s moods, behaviors, and motives in order to improve the quality of your relationships. This is more about the way you interact with those around you, although it is intimately tied to your personal competence and your ability to regulate your own emotions.
Social competence is made up of the other two core components of EQ: social awareness and relationship management. We’ll explore each of these below.
Social awareness
Social awareness is the ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and understand what is really going on with them. The socially aware person listens well and observes situations in order to perceive and understand what others are thinking and feeling. They use empathy to recognize the emotions of others, not letting their own emotions get in the way.
Relationship management
Relationship management is the ability to use awareness of your own emotions and those of others to manage interactions successfully. As the capstone of the core components, relationship management combines the other three skills to build and maintain a strong rapport with others. A person with this skill sees the benefit of connecting with all types of people, seeks to understand everyone they encounter, and prioritizes clear communication and effective conflict resolution.
The Completed Puzzle: Harnessing the Two Emotional Intelligence Competencies in the Workplace
If you’re looking to get ahead in the workplace, whether it’s improving at your current position or moving into a leadership position, emotional intelligence is an essential skill set to hone. In fact, studies show that emotional intelligence is a significant predictor of job performance, particularly in jobs requiring high rates of social interaction, such as leadership positions.
As you focus on these two emotional intelligence competencies, you will begin to see where your strengths and weaknesses lie. This will help direct you toward the improvements you need to make to increase your EQ.
You may be skilled at managing your own emotions–you know your triggers, can name your emotions, and stay cool under pressure. But when it comes to recognizing what makes your boss angry, you’re at a loss. In this case, you probably want to focus on enhancing your social competence.
Or maybe you’re the one in the office who always picks up on the moods of others, when to leave the receptionist alone on a stressful day or how to cheer up your team lead with their favorite treat. But you just can’t figure out why you get so angry in planning meetings, and you can’t hold your tongue once your temperature rises. This probably means you should spend some time on your personal competence.
The beauty of the two emotional intelligence competencies is that they are truly complementary. The skills you have in one are directly relatable to the other: it’s all about observing, understanding, and managing.
Practice Makes Perfect: Take Intentional Steps to Up Your EQ
You don’t have to try to improve your emotional intelligence on your own. TalentSmartEQ has the resources you, your team, and your organization need to assess your current EQ, take training leveraging those assessments, and continue to master EQ through ongoing practice. Contact us today to find out how we can help you harness EQ to improve the way you work.