The Emotional Intelligence FAQ

• Emotional Intelligence Defined

• How does EI make a difference?

• What is our Conceptual Model of EI?

• The Emotional Competence Framework

• Why does ScotCoach uses the Hay Group ECI?

• ‘Soft’ Skills that Aren't Soft

• What EI services does ScotCoach Offer?

Download our full EI Fact Sheet (324kb)

Emotional Intelligence Defined

Emotional Intelligence is defined as:

‘The capacity for recognising our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.’  Daniel Goleman (2002)

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Making a Difference

So how does EI make a difference to an organisation’s output or an individual manager’s performance?  

• It does not mean that managers are asked to move the focus away from the business needs of their organisation and become all ‘soft and fuzzy’ or be expected to be overly ‘nice’ or ‘artificial’ with their colleagues and team members.

• It does not mean becoming more aware of your own way of handling your emotions and responding to other people’s emotions just for its own sake – although this is no doubt an admirable goal.

• It does mean learning about the connection between your emotional competencies and your performance as a manager and how performance and outcomes can be improved by strengthening those competencies.

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The Conceptual Model of EI (Hay Group)

As can be seen in the above diagram the conceptual model of EI developed by the Hay Group and used by ScotCoach starts with ‘Self Awareness’ which involves knowing your emotions and their effects.

This area has an impact on two other areas. The first being ‘Self Management’ which involves knowing how to manage your emotions, how to keep disruptive impulses in check and being flexible and comfortable with new ideas.

The second area which is impacted upon by self awareness is ‘Social Awareness’ which involves an ability to listen, to be persuasive, to collaborate and to nurture relationships.

Self Management and Social Awareness both then impact on the last area of ‘Relationship Management’ which involves an ability to influence others, handle conflict, develop, lead, and work with others.

All four areas ultimately have an impact on others and our working relationships and as a result our own performance and that of others.

If we have not developed a lot of strengths in these areas then that impact will be more negative or neutral rather positive and motivating.

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Emotional Competence Framework (Hay Group)

Within each of the four areas discussed above Goleman has identified a number of key emotional competencies that relate to the performance of that aspect of EI.

‘An emotional competence is a learned capacity based on emotional intelligence that contributes to effective performance at work’ (Goleman, 1998).

However the good news is that there are ‘many paths to success’ and it is not necessary to master every competency to be successful as the areas you choose to develop will depend on a whole range of factors including:

• Your current role and level of responsibility

• The context within which you are currently working

• The specific problems or circumstances you are attempting to resolve

• Your organisational culture

There are however a number of key competencies which have been found to be non-negotiable. These are the ones that it is very important to have strengths in and that when they are observed at a particular level then it can be said that you have achieved the right combination for success in your particular role and context.

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Why the ECI

Working with the Real Thing
There are more and more feedback instruments being used by coaches that claim to provide valid developmental input on emotional intelligence. However very few are based on sound research and few can adequately demonstrate the validity of the instrument itself.

Some key reasons why ScotCoach uses the Hay Group ECI:

1. We researched the merits of other similar instruments and found the ECI to be consistent with best practice, comprehensive and useful to clients.

2. The competencies in the ECI consist of ‘behaviours’ that are developmentally scaled so that it is not just a simple tick box exercise where the answer is either a yes or no as to whether you have that competency or not.

3. This means that you may be using more complex behaviours or less complex behaviours within a particular competency and so be able to gauge at what level your competencies are and then choose which competencies you need to strengthen and develop.

4. The ECI has been shown to meet standard psychometric requirements. Anyone interested in receiving additional information about the validity and technical aspects of the instrument please contact us and we will be happy to discuss any questions you may have.

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‘Soft’ Skills that Aren't Soft

Many managers perform well against the ‘what has been achieved’ measures and achieve considerable personal and organisational success.

These same managers may never have performed as well against the ‘how was it achieved’ measures and whilst they may never have been terribly good at building effective working relationships they have nevertheless delivered the desired business outcomes.

So we might think that it is enough to have excellent cognitive and/or technical competencies as all that matters is that the job gets done and that the outcomes are good enough.

Rather, what is now increasingly supported by decades of excellent research is that it is the human realties of working relationships and the emotional competencies of managers and executives that distinguishes the performers that will continue to make a highly valued contribution to the growth of the organization from those who start to derail and fail to adapt to an increasingly changing and challenging workplace environment.

That means it is the managers who do well on developing their personal qualities such as initiative, empathy, adaptability and persuasiveness that will become outstanding performers.

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ScotCoach EI Services

ScotCoach provides a range of services that are affordable, professional, accredited and based on best practice in this field of coaching and development:

1. Emotional Intelligence Awareness and Training

2. Measuring Emotional Intelligence (Feedback using the Emotional Competence Inventory)

3. Emotional Intelligence Coaching

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Download our full EI Fact Sheet (324kb)

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For more information on workplace mediation training or to arrange a mediation with professional mediators please go here. For details of our emotional intelligence (EI, EQ) consultancy please go here. If you are interested in dignity at work training or consultancy, please click here.