Emotional Intelligence links strongly with concepts of love and spirituality:

bringing compassion and humanity to work, and also to Multiple Intelligence theory
which illustrates and measures the range of capabilities people possess, and the
fact that everybody has a value.

The meaning of emotional intelligence has something specific to do with the

intelligent intersection of the emotions and thoughts.

The EQ concept argues that IQ, or conventional intelligence, is too narrow; that
there are wider areas of emotional intelligence that dictate and enable how
successful we are. Success requires more than IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which
has tended to be the traditional measure of intelligence, ignoring eseential
behavioural and character elements. We've all met people who are academically
brilliant and yet are socially and inter-personally inept. And we know that
despite possessing a high IQ rating, success does not automatically follow.

Emotional Intelligence embraces and draws from numerous other branches of

behavioural, emotional and communications theories, such as NLP (Neuro-Linguistic
Programming), Transactional Analysis, and empathy. By developing our Emotional
Intelligence in these areas and the five EQ domains we can become more productive
and successful at what we do, and help others to be more productive and successful
too. The process and outcomes of Emotional Intelligence development also contain
many elements known to reduce stress for individuals and organizations, by
decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and increasing
stability, continuity and harmony.

Goleman identified the five 'domains' of EQ as:

1. KNOWING YOUR EMOTIONS

High self-awareness refers to having an accurate understanding of how you behave,

how other people perceive you, recognizing how you respond to others, being
sensitive to your attitudes, feelings, emotions, intents and general communication
style at any given moment and being able to accurately disclose this awareness to
others.
SKILL INDICATORS

*
Know when you are thinking negatively
*
Know when your self-talk is helpful
*
Know when you are becoming angry
*
Know how you are interpreting events
*
Know what senses you are currently using
*
Know how to communicate accurately what you experience
*
Know the moments your mood shifts
*
Know when you are becoming defensive
*
Know the impact your behavior has on others

SKILLS ASSESSMENT
 *
Do you recognize your feelings and emotions as they happen?
*
Are you aware of how others perceive you?
*
How do you act when you are defensive?
*
Are you aware of how you speak to yourself?

2 . MANAGING YOUR EMOTIONS

The capacity to soothe oneself, to shake off rampant anxiety, gloom, despair, or
irritability. The ability to be able to keep an emotional perspective.

SKILL INDICATORS

*
Able to identify shifts in physiological arousal
*
Be able to relax in pressure situations
*
Act productively in anxiety-arousing situations
*
Calm oneself quickly when angry
*
Associate different physiological cues with different emotional states
*
Use self-talk to affect emotional states
*
Communicate feelings effectively
*
Reflect on negative feelings without being distressed
*
Stay calm when you are the target of anger from others

SKILLS ASSESSMENT

*
Do you use anger productively?
*
Can you manage your anxiety in times of change?
*
Can you put yourself in a good mood?

3 . MOTIVATING YOURSELF

Be able to channel emotions to achieve a goal; to postpone immediate gratification

for future gratification; to be productive in low interest, low enjoyment
activities; to persist in the face of frustration and generate initiative without
external pressure.

SKILL INDICATORS

*
Able to "gear up" at will
*
Able to regroup quickly after a setback
*
 Able to complete long-term tasks in designated time frames
*
Able to produce high energy in the context of low-enjoyment work
*
Able to change and stop ineffective habits
*
Able to develop new and productive patterns of behavior
*
Able to follow through words with actions

SKILLS ASSESSMENT

*
Are you persistent?
*
Do setbacks set you back?
*
Can you psyche yourself up?

4 . EMPATHY

The ability to exchange information on a meaningful level. Adept in skills

necessary for organizing groups and building teams, negotiating solutions,
mediating conflict among others, building consensus, and making personal
connections.

SKILL INDICATORS

*
Work out conflicts
*
Build consensus
*
Mediate conflict between others
*
Exhibit effective interpersonal communication skills
*
Articulate the thoughts of a group
*
Able to influence others, directly or indirectly
*
Build trust
*
Build support teams
*
Make others feel good
*
Sought out by others for advice and support

SKILLS ASSESSMENT

*
Is it easy for you to resolve conflict?
*
How well do you give criticism?
*
Are you a good listener?
*
 Do you frequently praise people?

5. Managing relationships i.e managing the emotions of others

Being aware of other people's feelings and emotions; being able to listen to
their feelings; being able to help others deal with their feelings and emotions
in productive ways and assist them in increasing their awareness about their own
impact on others.

SKILL INDICATORS

*
Able to accurately reflect back to others the feelings they are experiencing
*
Stay calm in the presence of others' distressful emotions
*
Recognize when others are distressed
*
Able to help others manage their emotions
*
Be perceived by others as being empathic
*
Able to engage in intimate conversations with others
*
Able to manage group emotions
*
Detect incongruence between others' emotions and their behavior

SKILLS ASSESSMENT

*
Are you skillful in managing the emotions of others?
*
How do you know when your boss is angry, sad, anxious?
*
Can you manage an angry group?
*
Are you comfortable with your feelings?

Critics of Emotional Intelligence

Some of researchers indeed warn against the dangers of treating emotional

intelligence like a panacea. Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan, whose child-
development research Goleman uses to talk about the nature of shy and gregarious
kids, warns that emotional intelligence has the same blindspots as IQ and some
people "handle anger well, but can't handle fear. Some people can't take joy." A
wise aproach, Kagan explains, would be to examine emotions differently, and to not
encompass them in one neat package of emotional intelligence.

A significant criticism is that emotional intelligence has no "benchmark" to set

itself against. While IQ tests are designed to correlate as closely as possible
with school grades, emotional intelligence seems to have no similar objective
quantity it can be based on.