How to Optimize Your Executive EQ
When it comes to your career, having a high IQ (Intelligence Quotient) is no longer enough—EQ (Emotional Quotient) plays a much more important role today. In this post, I am going to talk a little bit about how to how to optimize your executive EQ.
Of course, if you have both that’s a gift, but at any rate, I encourage you to think about your EQ and how you can make it a priority every single day. It will serve you well in life, I promise.
EQ is like a game of tennis game—between you, yourself, and the people you communicate with daily. It’s never ending and needs constant care and maintenance.
EQ is a lifetime challenge because it doesn’t only involve dealing with your own emotions, but understanding and adapting to the emotions of others. To improve your EQ, you have to constantly be aware of how you come across different scenarios and understand who your audience is to elicit the best response from them.
Reading other people’s emotions and being socially aware enough to tailor your communications accordingly is a huge thing to do and a skill like no other.
Another way to look at Executive EQ is “relationship management.” This analogy brings to light the importance of improving your EQ.
If you can improve your Executive EQ and master how to develop and maintain good relationships, communicate clearly, inspire and influence others, work well in a team, and manage conflict, then your personal and professional relationships will flourish.
The first step to optimize your Executive EQ is being conscious of your own emotions so that you can identify them and pinpoint their root cause.
Once you’re cognizant of how you arrived at a specific emotion, you can work your way to the required emotional state and take your stakeholders along with you. This allows you to communicate more effectively and forge stronger relationships.
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Possessing a high Executive EQ means:
- Being aware that emotions can drive our behavior and impact people (positively and negatively)
- Learning how to manage emotions—both our own and others—especially when we are under pressure
Building Blocks to Improve Your Executive EQ
In a nutshell, the key skills for improving your Executive EQ, and your ability to manage emotions and connect with others, are:
- Self-awareness
- Self-management
- Social awareness
- Relationship management
When you’re ready to improve your Executive EQ, ask yourself a couple of questions:
- Do you pay any attention to your emotions?
- Do you have a good relationship with them?
If you can’t answer these both with a resounding “YES,” then you need to start looking in the mirror and making a change. Your career will thank you for it!
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Mark James, CPC is the founder and CEO of Hire Consulting Services (HCS). Established in 1999, HCS is a highly customized executive outplacement and career coaching firm for executive-level professionals.
Mark is equipped with over 25 years of experience in Executive Career Management Coaching, as well as Outplacement and Executive Search Consulting. He is the author of the three best-selling books—Keys to the C Suite: Unlock the Doors to Executive Career Path Success, The Interview Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Your Career, and The Recruiter Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Working with Executive Search Recruiters.
Mark uses a proven and successful strategy and structured process to fully enable his clients to conduct a professional job search campaign and with the singular goal of securing their next career opportunity in significantly less time it would take without a career coach. Clients gain a new perspective of their marketing value coupled with executing a strategic plan and closing the deal on their new role in their next job.
