You may have heard the term 'Emotional Intelligence' (EQ) thrown around the workplace. Coined in 1990 by psychology professors John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey, emotional intelligence is not just the ability to perceive and understand your own and others emotions, but the insight into what these emotional cues mean in regards to forming and managing relationships.
But is EQ more important than IQ for business communication? Surely IQ would be the gold standard in determining a person's job performance? Apparently not.
Is emotional intelligence more important than IQ in business communication?Why emotional intelligence matters
Interestingly, emotional intelligence has been found to positively affect job performance and attitude, and plays an important part of office efficiency.
"Research shows convincingly that EQ is more important than IQ in almost every role, and many times more important in leadership roles," Dr Stephen Covey, author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is quoted as saying in a TalentSmart EQ report.
Similar to IQ, the more in tuned you are with your emotions and those of others, the higher your EQ. But how do you measure this, what indicators are there? The Entrepreneur and the Harvard Business Review sum it up in a few key skills:
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Motivation (the ability to work beyond money and reward)
- Empathy for others
- Social skills (like managing and building relationships and networks)
What do these points have in common? Well, they all have something to do with communication. This might be an interesting piece of information for businesses that rely on regular interaction between customers and clients. Strategies like unifying your communications may facilitate the development of your staff's EQ.
What does this mean for business?
Unifying your communications may facilitate the development of your staff's EQ.
At Fonality, we can assist you with making communication the least of your concerns. Take our Heads Up Display (HUD) for example. In a nutshell, it boosts business productivity by combining your channels into a single application. This gives your employees the freedom to build and manage relationships with ease, improving their EQ as they work.
The same applies to improving your call centre. The better a person is at identifying and responding to emotional cues during a conversation, the more likely a positive outcome from the interaction, according to a case study by CCP. You'd want an advanced system in place to let this communication happen naturally, without interruption or dropping a call.
However communication for business phone systems may improve the EQ of your business, feel free to get in touch with the team at Fonality today.
