On the QT Newsletter, EI Matters
Attachment: EI Confirmation Statements
April 27, 2010
Did you know? Emotionally intelligent employees are more productive, more likely to meet goals, and have greater rates of retention. While “technical skills” are essential, in the today’s workplace “relationship skills” are the new currency. Employees must not only know what to do (the task), but how (through relationships) to do it. In her book, The Smart New Way to Get Hired: Use Emotional Intelligence and Land the Right Job, author Lisa Kappesser contends that employers are opting to hire and move up employees with high emotional intelligence even over candidates with more experience. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is defined as one’s ability to understand and effectively manage one’s own emotions as well as a capacity to understand the emotions, needs, and concerns of others. Today’s activity will introduce students to EI and give them an opportunity to explore some of their positive self-management skills — an important component to emotional intelligence.
Try this:
Ask students a few questions. Find out what they already know about EQ.
- What does IQ stand for? (Intelligence Quotient)
What does EQ stand for? (Emotional Quotient)
What is the difference? (IQ measures intellectual ability/EQ measures capacity to perceive, assess, & manage the emotions of one’s self and others.)
Why would EQ be important to employers? (Employees with high EQ are more productive, effective, and successful.)
View Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, as he takes about 5 minutes to introduce and explain emotional intelligence.
Review some of the important information in the video clip.
- What are the four areas EI? (Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Empathy, Social Skills)
What happens in schools that have EI programs? (Behavioral problems decrease and academic success increases.)
What happens to a person’s EI as he/she grows and develops? (Unlike IQ, EQ is an acquired skill and grows as person learns and practices EI skills.)
Distribute the activity EI Confirmation Statements and review directions.
Share some of your confirmation statements and ask students to share theirs.
Add an Experience: Have students identify 2 or 3 skills from the self-management activity that they would like to work on for a couple of weeks. Suggest they list things they are going to DO to improve or build those skills. Then have students report back to the class on the skills they worked on, and read their new confirmation statements. In addition, students may want to take an EQ self-assessment quiz to get a better handle on their EQ.
Quik Quote: It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of heart over head — it is the unique intersection of both.
David Caruso