EQ and IQ
We are all familiar with that one employee whom we know as a really talented and hardworking who will never get promoted. We know that he is intelligent but something tells us that he will never be a manager. Those qualities that we think are missing in him are called social skills. These are the skills or traits that have nothing to do with someone’s individual intelligence but everything to do with their success.
Psychologists have started terming this as Emotional Quotient (EQ) and frequently compare its role in the improvement of human beings, with respect to Intelligence Quotient (IQ). According to them, while a person’s IQ tells us his levels of intelligence and information-processing speed, it’s a person’s EQ that puts him in control of his feelings and teaches him to handle complex situations. It has become a wide practice to use EQ as an evaluation tool for job applicants because companies know that simply hiring people based on their talent and skills only will not get them employees who will understand the working culture of the company.
Social Intelligence teaches people the skills of addressing individual differences positively, instead of avoiding them and running away from them. In large organizations, processes will cease to function properly if people started having issues while working with one another. Effective conflict resolution, successful negotiation and enhancing personal and professional relationships are all the foremost objectives of Social Intelligence.
Social Intelligence makes us more adaptive to our social environment and be flexible as per the needs of the people in our surroundings. Being flexible means understanding the issues the other person is facing and seeing if it’s possible to make any change in your schedule so that you benefit, while being in total command over the choice you are going to make. This is different from passively agreeing to others’ whims, where you don’t have any control over the actins you are partaking in. Being flexible increases your understanding power and helps you develop smooth and productive working relationships with co-workers.
