EQ in the workplace

Author

Brian Garland
December 21, 2023

Welcome to The Introverted Path!

Happy Thursday! Hope everyone is able to enjoy some time off with family and friends for the holidays.

If you’re doing any last minute shopping for introverts in your life, the first link at the bottom has some gift ideas specifically for introverts.

Last week, I introduced what EQ (emotional intelligence) was. If you didn’t read that, I encourage you to start here.

This week, I will be focusing on EQ in the workplace, and why it is important.

In today’s email:

  • Emotional intelligence in the workplace

  • My thoughts

  • Links to other content I enjoyed this week

Let’s dive in 🤙 

EQ in the workplace

As a refresher, in the book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ, Psychologist Daniel Goleman outlined 5 key personality and behavioral traits related to EQ:

  1. Self-awareness

  2. Self-regulation

  3. Social skills

  4. Empathy

  5. Motivation

For introverts, these “soft skills” are ways we can stand out from our peers.

As knowledge becomes easier to access via the internet, workers are continuing to get more skilled.

That means we will need to look at other ways to make an impression and be successful in our jobs.

There are many reasons EQ is important in the workplace, but I will highlight a few below:

EQ will help in the interview process

Many states are seeing record low unemployment rates this year.

We’re in a job market where there are a ton of candidates who meet the basic requirements of the job description.

This forces hiring managers to look at other skills to distinguish candidates.

According to an analysis by HR Digest, emotional intelligence became the most sought after skill during the pandemic.

With more employers embracing remote or hybrid work styles, it becomes even more important to have well-rounded employees.

Co-workers will enjoy working with you more

While you get to choose the company you work for, you don’t get to choose your coworkers (most of the time).

This is one of the big unknowns when going into a new job.

Employers are focusing more on hiring people that will fit their culture and be the type of person others will want to work with.

Part of excelling in an organization and getting promoted is the perception your coworkers and leadership have of you.

All else being equal, a person with high EQ will position themselves well for promotions or additional responsibility.

Helps to build trust with customers

A huge part of dealing with customers is showing empathy towards the problems they are facing.

Most jobs involve working with customers, even if you don’t directly work with them.

A successful business is able to put themselves in their customer’s shoes and understand what their needs are even before they do.

By being a good partner, you can build trust and ensure you are acting in their best interest.

My thoughts 💭 

When you’re being compared against other capable peers, you have to find ways to differentiate yourself.

People who have high EQ are generally more enjoyable to work with.

At the end of the day, we spend a large portion of our lives at work.

You may as well try to be the type of person people want to work with.

So next week —> we will be talking about ways to improve your EQ!

  • The best gifts for introverts (for anyone that is late on their holiday shopping) (link)

  • Why randomness doesn’t feel random (link)

  • Why having too many hobbies isn’t a bad thing (link)

That’s it for today - hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter!

Best,

BG