Success within the professional workplace today doesn’t just require sector-specific skills, but an ability to work and communicate effectively with your colleagues and team members. It’s a valuable competency when it comes to handling a range of tough business challenges and has been cited as one of THE major differentiators between an average performer and a high achiever.
Forget thinking about emotional intelligence as a soft skill. Evidence suggests quite the opposite. High emotional intelligence is a stronger predictor of success than intelligence and technical capability. In fact, high emotional intelligence has been proven to bolster hard skills:
- After Motorola provided emotional intelligence training for staff in a manufacturing plant, the productivity of more than 90 percent of those trained went up (Bruce Cryer, Rollin McCraty, and Doc Childre: “Pull the Plug on Stress,” Harvard Business Review, July 2003)
- Emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 90 percent of what moves people up the ladder when IQ and technical skills are roughly similar (see "What Makes a Leader" in the Harvard Business Review, January 2004)
An employee with high levels of emotional intelligence is able to control their own impulses, communicate effectively with others, handle change, solve problems and use humour to establish rapport and manage conflict in tense situations. They’re also equipped with empathy, remain optimistic in the face of adversity and are capable of educating and persuading peers as they seek solutions to a wide range of challenging circumstances.
This emotional intelligence course takes a fresh look at some of the latest thinking in the field of emotional intelligence. It will show you how you can recognise and make use of the power of emotion to make work more engaging and fulfilling. You'll learn how to assess and develop your strengths, and find out where you'll benefit most from further development.
