By now you’ve probably heard the term Emotional Intelligence and you might have a good idea what it means. Being smart with your emotions is the simplest answer, although not a complete one, and will suffice for now. Before we determine how or if it affects the bottom line, let’s take a look at what emotional intelligence looks like in terms of behavior. Here are twelve keystone examples.
Someone with high emotional intelligence is someone who:
- inspires trust and commitment to goals
- exercises good decision-making under duress
- bounces back easily from frustrations and disappointments
- resists the urge to negatively react to condescending emails or comments
- communicates with confidence without being arrogant or overbearing
- recovers quickly from stress
- can see the silver lining in or make the most of tough situations
- builds rapport easily and makes others feel heard and understood
- handles conflict with ease and grace
- influences others to take action
- demonstrates compassion by helping others
- sets healthy boundaries
Naturally there are many more ways to detect emotional intelligence in the workplace, but this gives you the gist. So how does this translate to improving business? How does it impact bottom line profitability? Though a bit difficult to measure sometimes, leaders with high EQ – emotional intelligence quotient – experience these types of outcomes:
- They can focus on new opportunities since there are few employee issues.
- Turnover, recruiting and training costs are low.
- Engagement, productivity and creativity are high.
- There is high trust, so the speed of doing business increases while cost decreases.
- Communication is open, honest, frequent and effective.
- Teams are motivated and collaborate well together.
- Little time is spent gossiping at the water cooler.
- Change initiatives are successful.
- Financial goals are met or exceeded.
- The organization enjoys regular growth.
So do these things affect the bottom line? Would they affect yours?