What is Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence has been defined as "the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour.
Many experts now believe that a person’s emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) may be more important than their IQ and is certainly a better predictor of success, quality of relationships, and overall happiness.
Emotional intelligence (EI) is, in layman’s terms, our level of ability to:
• Recognize and understand our emotions and reactions (self-awareness)
• Manage, control, and adapt our emotions, mood, reactions, and responses (self-management)
• Harness our emotions to motivate ourselves to take appropriate action, commit, follow-through, and work toward the achievement of our goals (motivation)
• Discern the feelings of others, understand their emotions, and utilize that understanding to relate to others more effectively (empathy)
• Build relationships, relate to others in social situations, lead, negotiate conflict, and work as part of a team (social skills)