Besides work-related skills in areas of cognitive ability, particular occupations and job types require competence in social skills like emotional intelligence. 71% value emotional intelligence in an employee over a high IQ. To build your own superpower culture of emotional intelligence, you need to know what to shoot for when assessing the social skills of your current and future employees. Here are a few observable behaviours you want to see more of:
Look for transparency
- In teams that thrive, you’ll find people displaying their authentic selves
- Lead in conversations and interactions with integrity, emotional honesty, an openness to feedback, and awareness of not only your own internal state but the feelings of others on the team
Look for empathy
People are drawn to empathy. It’s an attractive quality to have in building successful relationships at work. It is also proven to be a key driver of organizational performance.
A high-performing team that displays empathy will have fostered strong personal relationships that lead to effective collaboration.
Look for resilience and flexibility
- Be flexible during change and jump on every opportunity to help during a transition
- Resilient people recover from bad situations by saying no to anyone who interferes with their goals and schedules
- Don’t allow yourself to feel guilty about things that have nothing to do with them
Look for people who manage their emotions well
Reasonable people who maintain control over their emotions are the ones who can sustain safe, fair environments. In these settings, drama is very low and productivity is very high. Top performers flock to these organizations and are not apt to leave them.
