A survey executed by CareerBuilder released information stating “71 percent of employers say they value emotional intelligence, or workplace EQ, over IQ.”
This rising trend of emphasizing emotional intelligence, particularly in the workplace, is something that has been gaining momentum for some time now. The term emotional intelligence, sometimes better known as EQ, became monumental in the 1990s thanks to Daniel Goleman’s book; Emotional Intelligence, but the concepts that are the foundations of EQ have existed for decades, often called “social intelligence”, “social IQ”, or simply “interpersonal skills.” Employers have been paying increasing amounts of attention to how EQ benefits the workplace environment, and as a result of observations and numerous studies released on the importance of EQ, employers are beginning to shift their focus from IQ to workplace EQ.
The survey was conducted in August of 2011 and measured responses from over 2,600 hiring managers and human resource professionals from across the nation. The survey revealed:
- “34% of hiring managers said they are placing greater emphasis on emotional intelligence when hiring and promoting employees post-recession”
- “71% said they value EQ in an employee more than IQ”
- “59 percent of employers would not hire someone who has a high IQ but low EQ”
- “75 percent are more likely to promote an employee with a high EQ over one with a high IQ”
Now, this data doesn’t mean; college students, throw out your text books because grades don’t matter. You still need to have a desired skill-set to get you to the places you want to go, but workplace EQ gives you the ability to rise above and become a star within those places in ways IQ alone does not.
According to a blog written by Daniel Goleman “IQ stands as a proxy for the cognitive complexity a person can process, it should predict what technical expertise that person can master. Technical expertise, in turn, represents the major set of threshold competencies that determine whether a person can get and keep a job in a given field.” With this said, Goleman makes the argument that “emotional and social skills give people advantages in realms where such abilities make the most difference, like love and leadership. EQ trumps IQ in “soft” domains, where intellect matters relatively little for success. Another such arena where EQ matters more than IQ is in performance at work, when comparing people with roughly the same educational backgrounds…”
But if theory simply isn’t enough for you, survey participants gave the following reasons based on their observations in the workplace as to why they place a higher value on workplace EQ versus IQ:
- “Employees with high EQ are more likely to stay calm under pressure”
- “They know how to solve conflict effectively”
- “They are empathetic to their team members and react accordingly”
- “They lead by example”
- “They tend to make more thoughtful business decisions.”
TRACOM’s Dr. Casey Mulqueen says “Evidence on the personal and professional benefits of EQ is becoming clearer and overwhelming, and employers are recognizing this through their hiring and promotion practices. What matters now is for people to learn about workplace EQ and start practicing it. Many of us have spent our entire academic and professional lives honing our intellects and technical abilities. Unfortunately, this has been at the expense of our emotional intelligence. Just as people have dedicated practice and effort to their educations and careers, they can do the same with EQ. Small daily changes will turn into well-learned habits, with practice. And this will help people move to the next level in their careers and personal lives.”
TRACOM offers resources for professionals to enhance their EQ via Behavioral Emotional Intelligence training.
Click here to view additional Emotional Intelligence Resources.
