Emotional Intelligence...

“If you expect nothing from anybody, you’re never disappointed...” - Sylvia Plath

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Ritz Carlton Conference Center

I attended a half-day networking and knowledge sharing session on Emotional Intelligence with Bill Tredwell, the Managing Director of the HayGroup in Boston.

EI as defined is the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships. We were introduced to the conceptual model of EI, which revolved around self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. We also look at EI competencies and characteristic found in outstanding leaders and professionals.

The HayGroup, from their research of more than 500 organizations demonstrated that Emotional Competence is twice as important as IQ, advanced degrees or technical skills, in predicting outstanding performance. The higher up the leadership ladder, the more Emotional Competence becomes a determinant of success or failure. Emotional Competence facilitates the identification of 'emotional triggers' thus helping one to cope better under stressful circumstances, helps to be in-tune with others, resulting in better working relationships. Good news is, EI can be developed as long as we ‘rewire’ our responses to feelings, change how we think and alter our behaviors.

After the half-day session, I believe I am less emotional and more intelligent now.