Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise, understand and to manage emotions in ourselves and others. - It could be described as a ‘sixth sense’ as it definitely plays an important part in soft skills and yet is one of those hidden attributes that whilst recognised isn’t measured or recorded.

Conversely IQ - Intelligence Quotient - is a measure of what psychologists call our ‘fluid and crystallised intelligence’ and is given a numerical rating.

When hiring someone for a job there are broadly 3 attributes / areas that need to be considered:

• Technical ability / skillset

• Intellectual capability - this is your IQ and embraces cognitive abilities

• Emotional capability - otherwise know as Emotional Intelligence or EI

Out of the first two, technical skills are tangible and can be learnt, such as accountancy or writing. IQ is intangible, largely genetic and doesn't change much from childhood.

Emotional intelligence falls somewhere in between. It involves natural traits, but can be learnt over time. It takes perseverance and a commitment to improve. EI helps you think, feel and do in different situations rather than reacting with a conditioned response. It gives you a choice, and there are broadly two sides to it.

1. Intrapersonal intelligence - Looking at what goes on inside yourself and being intelligent and in control enough to do what you need to do to achieve a positive outcome. This is what you need for effective self management.

2. Interpersonal intelligence - Being able to work out what is going on inside yourself and others around you and then doing what you need to achieve a positive outcome. This is what is needed for effective relationship management.

From a business perspective, effective self management + effective relationship management = effective performance.

The simple two-sided model above can be expanded to include four clusters of Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management, but in essence we are talking the same thing.

The benefits of acting with emotional intelligence are numerous and start with a greater understanding of your own potential. This is the ability to recognise and understand your own moods and their effect on others, as well as the ability to understand the emotional makeup of others and to harness the opportunities that come with that. This includes the ability and skill of managing people and relationships and building networks by finding common ground.

Studies, including those by Daniel Goleman who is recognised as a leader in this field have revealed that successful managers and leaders who achieve higher financial results are generally those that possess a high percentage of emotional intelligence. His findings (1998) indicated that Emotional Intelligence contributes 80 to 90% of the competencies that distinguish outstanding leaders from average leaders.

Other benefits of emotional intelligence include being more stress tolerant and being able to work under pressure, and being a good communicator equally in empathy and disagreement.

Furthermore, individuals with high emotional intelligence can generally get the best out of others by facilitating their growth and development.

Growing Emotional Intelligence takes time and isn’t easy. It involves critical self-reflection and honesty. It is the analysis of the way we pose problems to ourselves and of our own structure of assumptions that we use as a reference for interpreting our experiences. It involves continually asking yourself why? - Why you do something, how / why you feel the way you do about your decision, why you assume that others will also judge you in the way that you perceive that they may or may not as a consequence of your decision. And so it goes on.

Improving emotional intelligence involves continued learning and this can both be on a personal basis or for an organisation if you are involved with a business challenging itself to improve business performance by trying to influence / change the corporate culture.