Emotional intelligence, also known as emotional quotient (EQ) is the “ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict.”[1]
Put simply, it’s recognizing and managing your emotions, and at the same time interpreting the emotion behind the behavior of another person.
There are four key aspects of emotional intelligence:
- Self-awareness: Understanding personal strengths and weaknesses and recognizing how your emotions are connected to your behavior.
- Self-management: the ability to manage your own emotions, show initiative, be dependable, trustworthy and adapt to change.
- Social awareness: The ability to understand and empathize with the emotion and needs of others and recognize any power dynamics which might be at play.
- Relationship management: The ability to communicate well, work in a team and manage conflict to develop and maintain healthy relationships at work.
