EQ vs. IQ

While on the subject of being effective working from home covered in the previous article, let's talk today about emotional intelligence and why it might be even more important than IQ. This article is addressed to both company executives and employees.

Those days when a high level of IQ was the trump card when hiring are long gone. Now the candidate is judged not only by IQ, but also by EQ - Emotional Intelligence. And the phrase “forget what you were taught at school” is as relevant as ever. The new standards prioritize personal qualities - empathy, leadership role, the ability to communicate well and avoid conflicts, controlling your emotions. And even if this is not openly stated, believe me, you are being judged by these criteria.

The IT sphere is directly based on communication between people, on which the success of the project depends, and sometimes its complete failure. Employees of the University of Bonn have proven that those who better understand the mood and emotions of colleagues earn more.

Meanwhile, according to research by Thomas Achenbach in the late 1980s, children around the world born at this time are practically deprived of emotional intelligence, and now they are the backbone of the working environment. This means that we are close to an emotional crisis, but the good news is that emotional intelligence is not genetic, it can be developed and improved by learning from our own mistakes.

How to develop your EQ? In 2 steps - understand your emotions and clearly understand their cause. That is, you need to devote more time to self-knowledge, self-analysis, self-control, learn to empathize and communicate effectively.

Why is it important to know for the company executives and to cultivate among employees? Firstly, it forms the corporate culture and environment and helps to perceive situations correctly, to switch quickly, which means not to waste time on irrational emotions. Secondly, empathizing with a person, it is possible to build deep communication and effective partnership with him. And also, to assemble a powerful team of like-minded, morally inspired, motivated employees with high labor efficiency.

All IT specialists, without exception (not only executives, but also the developers and project / sales managers themselves) face difficult clients, and it is emotional intelligence that helps not to flare up, but to intelligently manage emotions, including the client’s ones. Moreover, using EQ, you better understand the needs of the client, what the ideal product should be like for him.

What does a developed EQ give a company? A healthy atmosphere in a team of motivated and proactive employees and the overall result / achievements of the company.

How to start working on EQ development? To begin with, it is worth determining the level of your employees EQ. This can be done simply using the well-known N. Hall questionnaire. And of course, training and practices aimed at the demonstration and control of emotions.

Of course, this is a difficult and long process that can be a little easier if, when hiring employees, you immediately pay attention to this indicator and put it in the same line with professional skills, like in all European companies.