"According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report emotional intelligence will be one of the top 10 sought after job skills in 2020."
Emotional Intelligence is a valuable job skill; it doesn’t matter what job, and in many cases even surpassing the value of technical ability. Beginning as early as 2010, hiring managers and human resource professionals began to recognize and value emotional intelligence. They were more likely to promote an employee who was emotionally intelligent over an employee with skills but didn’t demonstrate emotional intelligence. So, what is the value of emotional intelligence?
The value of emotional intelligence is:
- Listening Skills – communication skills are essential to success. The ability to listen and respond to others is crucial for developing relationships and teams. Those with high emotional intelligence can set asides personal wants, needs and emotions to listen to others. They can pick up tone of voice and body language and others feel they have been heard and understood.
- Empathic – the ability to foster trust and cohesiveness allows others to focus on the task at hand. Those with high emotional intelligence don’t engage in gossip or petty fighting. They are sensitive to others and their focus is on how to work together.
- Cooperation – those with high emotional intelligence have well-developed people skills that allow them to build relationships and work well with people across cultures and backgrounds; critical in increasingly global organizations.
- Pressure – managing emotions allows emotionally intelligent individuals to function well when dealing with stress. They tend to have better coping skills, a healthy support system and can regulate themselves. Organizational changes are moving at an increasing speed; those that can manage it and the stress involved will be more successful long-term.
- Decision Making – understanding the point of view of others allows those with high emotional intelligence to understand the impact of their decisions. This results in better decisions and increased buy-in.
- Set the Example – high emotional intelligence is key in influencing others regardless of title. Earning trust and respect by remaining calm in chaos and crisis allows others to observe, learn and follow.
The value of individuals with high emotional intelligence is they can manage their emotions, work well with others, adapt to change, and make decisions that are supported. With continuous pressures in the workplace and the increased rate of organizational change, finding individuals with high emotional intelligence will be even more crucial.
Thanks to Laura Dillingham, Senior Strategic Partner at HPISolutions who authored this article.