Emotional Intelligence as a Leadership Skill
We all want to be successful in life. We would like to move forward in our careers, and want to move up in the so called 'corporate food chain'. However, most people make the mistake of thinking that it is merely a matter of skill and competence. This is not true. While yes, skill does matter in the workplace, it does not affect your career as much as you think.
Being skilled at your job certainly helps you get that promotion, or that job raise, or anything else you aspire for. The part where it gets tricky is the fact that being skilled alone may not help you. You need to develop on some other key areas to truly succeed at your career.
Soft skills are the new hard skills
Without these key areas, your skill-set is effectively useless. In fact, if another person comes along, developed in these key areas, but is otherwise limited in terms of his/her skill-set, they will always be chosen over you, despite your superior skill-set.
This is because in a workplace, you work with people. And for working with people, you need to have a few key skills to be the most productive. You have to be able to communicate your ideas effectively, and have to interact with your coworkers. You must handle stress, and have to learn to manage your anger.
All this comprises emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence is in no way related to your IQ, and is actually an entirely different benchmark that can change your career. By attaining the skills associated with Emotional Intelligence, you would be more successful.
Don't believe me? Let's crunch some numbers. According to various studies, 90% of top-performers were emotionally intelligent. And on average, an emotionally intelligent person makes $29,000 more than a comparatively inexperienced person annually in an average salary setting. This number climbs dramatically when it comes to Management positions.
Actual intelligence doesn't even come into play here, and that's why you should focus on being emotionally intelligent rather than focusing on improving your skill-set.
Basic workplace skills like team-work and social interactions are more important than your skill-set. Of course, this doesn't mean that you should completely neglect your skill-set. Think of your skill-set like a rocket, and your emotional intelligence being a heavy weight attached to it. In this way, even if the rocket is mighty, it won't be able to reach its full potential because of the weight dragging it down. However, if you somehow propel the weight up, the rocket can reach its full potential. In this way, emotional intelligence is connected to your skill-set, and only by being emotionally intelligent can you become more adept, more proficient and more successful.
How you will benefit from a higher EQ
Emotional Intelligence does not only improve your productivity, but also improves your mental health. It helps you to de-stress, and you discover new things about yourselves. Indeed, being Emotionally Intelligent lets you fly aflutter, helping you reach your potential.
