According to a Career Builder survey, 71% of employers said that they valued a candidate’s emotional intelligence (EI) skills over his or her IQ. And moving forward, employers are much more likely to hire and promote individuals with developed EI skills.
Here are four reasons why you’ll want to ensure your employees have developed EI skills.
1. EI Fosters Better Communication in the Workplace
Emotionally intelligent employees are good listeners and can communicate calmly and clearly in stressful situations, whether they’re talking to their bosses, coworkers, or external stakeholders.
And they also have great empathy for others, so they’re able to understand another person’s concerns when communicating with him or her, sometimes without the other party having to explain his or her stance in depth. Overall, emotionally intelligent people foster work environments that are conducive to fruitful and positive communications, where everyone is heard and respected and things get done on time and in a productive manner.
2. EI Lessens Likelihood of Workplace Stress and Heated Disagreements
Stress in the workplace is inevitable. However, emotionally intelligent individuals know how to cope with their stress in a productive manner so that they never take it out on others and so that it prompts them to complete good work. And because people with high levels of EI naturally foster better communications, it is much less likely that heated disagreements and ill will will occur.
Instead of lashing out at someone who disagrees with them, emotionally intelligent people will listen to opposing viewpoints and search for a compromise or neutral topic to focus on and discuss.
Additionally, when employees feel that they are really being listed to and respected at work, they are much less likely to be stressed out at work and lash out at others when disagreements arise.
3. EI Increases Collaboration and Employees’ Rapport with One Another
Effective and positive communications foster collaboration and positive relationships. Emotionally intelligent people make it easy for others to work with them on collaborative projects and initiatives.
They’ll always value others’ input and will make sure that everyone feels as if he or she is part of the team. And this will lead to sincere rapport and positive relationships among internal and external stakeholders who are involved in projects and initiatives with those employees who exhibit EI.
4. EI Grows Customer Satisfaction Levels and Organizational Profits
When emotionally intelligent employees engage with your customers, those customers will end up feeling valued and respected, even if they come to your organization with a complaint.
So, when you have more emotionally intelligent employees interacting with your customers, you can expect to see your customer satisfaction levels increase. And the more satisfied your customers are, the more they’ll tell others about your business and products, which will increase your profits and bottom line.
Keep the four reasons listed above in mind as you consider hiring and developing more emotionally intelligent employees for your organization.