Emotional Competencies
(Colloquially also 'Emotional Intelligence')
Emotional Intelligence (abbreviated as EQ or EI) is a term with nuanced interpretations in both the business sector and academia. For businesses worldwide, EI serves as a valuable heuristic – a simplified, clear-enough model that helps HR and leaders talk to people in their organizations about the sometimes still overlooked aspect of human feelings in a relatable way. It gives professionals a common vocabulary around fostering self-awareness, self-regulation, effective communication, empathy, motivation, and teamwork.
In academia, the term is subject to debate, with some questioning its predictive value beyond established personality models like the Big Five or HEXACO. Others argue for its continued relevance as an ability-based model, distinct from trait-based approaches.
The disconnect arises from the business world’s focus on practical outcomes and simplified models — the explanatory value of theoretical models is frequently not of interest independently of business results.
Additionally, there is a clear need to explain people-skills, or power-skills, as one item in an easy-to-understand, meaningful way. EI provides a convenient framework for modern, people-centric organizations. In part, due to its fame in popular psychology. While some scholars debate the precise nature of EI as an ability or a trait, terms like emotional skills or emotional competencies can be used to emphasize the practical application and development of these important capacities.
In practical terms, EI can be understood as:
The capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one’s goal(s).
The concept was brought into academic psychology by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer in 1990. It was later popularized by David Goleman in his best-selling book Emotional Intelligence.
Some corporate training programs such as for example some of the ones used at Google and also SAP, teach mindfulness, emotional intelligence and leadership skills as an all-encompassing integrated skill-set.
Here at Affectual, we appreciate the diverse perspectives on EI and acknowledge their value in different contexts. And we try our best to dance the dance of leveraging the same, exciting, proven, world-class leadership programs, while upholding the values of scientific humility and integrity. Check out some of our programs while you are at it.
