"...in navigating our lives, it is our fears and envies, our rages and depressions, our worries and anxieties that steer us day to day. Even the most academically brilliant among us are vulnerable to being undone by unruly emotions. The price we pay for emotional literacy is in failed marriages and troubled families, in stunted social and work lives, in deteriorating physical health and mental anguish and, as a society, in tragedies such as killings..." (Goleman)

I was listening to someone in a meeting the other talking at great length about a particular topic. Perhaps an unkind thought, but it occurred that he could have appeared on “just a minute” and done justice to any topic for the full minutes ranging from space travel to light refraction, to the theory of transactional analysis. However, the  contribution, though high on intellectual statements, lacked an emotional understanding of the situation he was talking about. The Papua New Guinea proverb says that “knowledge is only rumour until it becomes part of the muscles”…

Emotional Intelligence - EQ - is a relatively recent behavioural model, rising to prominence with Daniel Goleman's 1995 Book called 'Emotional Intelligence'. Emotional Intelligence is increasingly relevant to organizational development and developing people, because the EQ principles provide a new way to understand and assess people's behaviours, management styles, attitudes, interpersonal skills, and potential.

Goleman in one particular passage stated: "...in navigating our lives, it is our fears and envies, our rages and depressions, our worries and anxieties that steer us day to day. Even the most academically brilliant among us are vulnerable to being undone by unruly emotions. The price we pay for emotional literacy is in failed marriages and troubled families, in stunted social and work lives, in deteriorating physical health and mental anguish and, as a society, in tragedies such as killings..."

The term encompasses the following five characteristics and abilities:

1. Self-awareness--knowing your emotions, recognizing feelings as they occur, and discriminating between them
   
2. Mood management--handling feelings so they're relevant to the current situation and you react appropriately
   
3. Self-motivation--"gathering up" your feelings and directing yourself towards a goal, despite self-doubt, inertia, and impulsiveness
   
4. Empathy--recognizing feelings in others and tuning into their verbal and nonverbal cues
   
5. Managing relationships--handling interpersonal interaction, conflict resolution, and negotiations

For a fuller overview and fact sheet on Emotional intelligence, click here

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