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Why increasing your Emotional and Social Intelligence guarantees that you get ahead
By IsaiX | May 7, 2008
Taken from Judith Germain’s blog, http://talent-management.typepad.com/judith_germain
When I think about leadership I find that I agree with John Maxwell, (internationally recognised leadership expert, speaker and author), when he says that leadership is about influence, nothing more and nothing less.
One of the ways to gain influence is to become an expert on understanding the effect that you have on others when you interact with them, and what changes you should make for your interaction to be a positive experience for both parties. This is something that can be learned, although it can be hard to do so without appropriate self awareness or the help of others.
Social Intelligence is not as well known as Emotional Intelligence and confusion remains between the two of them. Salovey & Mayer (1990) described Emotional Intelligence as a form of Social Intelligence that involves the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide ones thinking and action.
This is a fantastic description and accurately describes how Emotional Intelligence relates to the individual. I see Social Intelligence as the ability of taking Emotional Intelligence and applying it to social situations. It concerns itself with how you interact with others and how you assess the situations/environments around you, to achieve a win/win solution or best agreed alternative solution. Social Intelligence is also about how you respond to the different situations and environments that you find yourself in.
Becoming better at navigating your way through social situations can be invaluable in your personal and business endeavours. Research by the Center for Creative Leadership has found that the primary causes of derailment in executives involve deficits in emotional competence. The three primary ones are difficulty in handling change, not being able to work well in a team, and poor interpersonal relations – Cary Cherniss, Ph.D. Rutgers University.
This means that if you really want to get ahead in business then mastering the social interplay between you and others is an imperative that you just can’t ignore. There are many people that have the same skills as you but not everyone will have the same social competence – it is this that defines and sets us apart from others.
In another study, individuals who scored higher in the ability to perceive accurately, understand, and appraise others emotions were better able to respond flexibly to changes in their social environments and build supportive social networks (Salovey, Bedell, Detweiler, & Mayer, 1999). This is important not only for those who need to network up and across the corporate ladder but also those that are running a business.
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