Welcome to the Center for Applied Emotional Intelligence (CAEI).
CAEI was founded to help individuals and
organizations worldwide improve their effectiveness through the recognition,
training and development of Emotional Intelligence competencies. CAEI is
dedicated to the research and development of new ways to increase EQ in the
workplace.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is a set of competencies demonstrating the ability one
has to recognize their own and others’ behaviors, moods and impulses and manage
them best according to the situation or the person they are dealing with.
Why is Emotional Intelligence important?
Studies have shown that managers and employees with high emotional intelligence
(EI) are more successful than those who are merely technically qualified. People
with high EI are more liked, cooperative, trusted, resilient, intrinsically
motivated, optimistic and better at dealing with conflicts.
The results of a national survey of what employers are looking for in new hires
include:
- Listening
- Communication
- Adaptability
- Creative responses to setbacks and obstacles
- Personal management and confidence
- Motivation to work toward goals, group
- Interpersonal effectiveness, cooperativeness and
teamwork
- Skills at negotiating disagreements
- Leadership potential
Most of these desired characteristics are hallmarks of
Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence is a tool that more employers are
using for finding the right job candidates as well as for assessing the training
needs of their staff.
How do you measure Emotional
Intelligence?
There are several methods to measure Emotional Intelligence. The most popular
ones are the self-assessments, followed by 360 feedback assessments. There are a
few instruments which are scientifically valid and reliable. The Center uses the
Bar-On EQ-i instrument for the following reasons:
- It is the world’s first scientific measure of EI and
not “pop psychology”
- It is the best normed instrument of EI (based on
research since 1980 and results from over 85,000 individuals)
- It is multifaceted and examines all aspects of
emotional and social intelligence
- It has multicultural applicability
What are the benefits of
Emotional Intelligence in the workplace?
The following 14 points, compiled by Cary Cherniss, build a case for how
emotional intelligence contributes to the bottom line in organizations. This
data comes from a variety of sources and makes the business case for the use of
emotional intelligence in your organization.
Top Performers are More Productive … and it’s emotional competence that makes
them that way
- In jobs of medium complexity (sales clerks,
mechanics), a top performer is 12 times more productive than those
at the bottom and 85 percent more productive than an average
performer.
- In the most complex jobs (insurance
salespeople, account managers), a top performer is 127 percent more
productive than an average performer (Hunter, Schmidt, & Judiesch,
1990).
- Competency research in over 200 companies and
organizations worldwide suggests that about one-third of this
difference is due to technical skill and cognitive ability while
two-thirds is due to emotional competence (Goleman, 1998).
- In top leadership positions, over four-fifths
of the difference is due to emotional competence.
Increased Sales, Reduced Turnover
- At L’Oreal, sales agents selected on the
basis of certain emotional competencies significantly out sold
salespeople selected using the company’s old selection procedure.
- In the most complex jobs (insurance
salespeople, account managers), a top performer is 127 percent more
productive than an average performer (Hunter, Schmidt, & Judiesch,
1990).
- On an annual basis, salespeople selected on
the basis of emotional competence sold $91,370 more than other
salespeople did, for a net revenue increase of $2,558,360.
- Salespeople selected on the basis of
emotional competence also had 63% less turnover during the first
year than those selected in the typical way (Spencer & Spencer,
1993; Spencer, McClelland, & Kelner, 1997).
Increased Sales at Life Insurance Company
- In a national insurance company, insurance
sales agents who were weak in emotional competencies such as
self-confidence, initiative, and empathy sold policies with an
average premium of $54,000.
- Those who were very strong in at least 5 of 8
key emotional competencies sold policies worth $114,000 (Hay/McBer
Research and Innovation Group, 1997).
Improved Executive Performance in a
Multinational Beverage Firm
- In a large beverage firm, using standard
methods to hire division presidents, 50% left within two years,
mostly because of poor performance.
- When they started selecting based on
emotional competencies such as initiative, self-confidence, and
leadership, only 6% left in two years.
- The executives selected based on emotional
competence were far more likely to perform in the top third based on
salary bonuses for performance of the divisions they led: 87% were
in the top third. In addition, division leaders with these
competencies outperformed their targets by 15 to 20 percent. Those
who lacked them under-performed by almost 20% (McClelland, 1999).
Preventing Executive Derailment
- Research by the Center for Creative
Leadership has found that the primary causes of derailment in
executives involve deficits in emotional competence. The three
primary ones are difficulty in handling change, not being able to
work well in a team, and poor interpersonal relations.
Social Skills Training for Supervisors Leads to
Productivity Gains in Manufacturing
- After supervisors in a manufacturing plant
received training in emotional competencies such as how to listen
better and help employees resolve problems on their own. After
training:
o Lost-time accidents were reduced by 50 percent
o Formal grievances were reduced from an average of 15 per year
to 3 per year
o The plant exceeded productivity goals by $250,000 (Pesuric
& Byham, 1996).
In another manufacturing plant where
supervisors received similar training:
- Production increased 17 percent.
- There was no such increase in production for
a group of matched supervisors who were not trained (Porras &
Anderson, 1981).
Self-Regulation Produces Success in Store
Managers
- Another emotional competence, the ability to
handle stress, was linked to success as a store manager in a retail
chain. The most successful store managers were those best able to
handle stress.
- Success was based on net profits, sales per
square foot, sales per employee, and per dollar inventory investment
(Lusch & Serpkeuci, 1990).
Learned Optimism Generates Greater Sales in
Life Insurance
- Optimism is another emotional competence that
leads to increased productivity. New salesmen at Met Life who scored
high on a test of "learned optimism" sold 37 percent more life
insurance in their first two years than pessimists (Seligman, 1990).
Emotional Competence Helps Computer Sales Reps
to Finish Training Successfully
- For sales reps at a computer company, those
hired based on their emotional competence were 90% more likely to
finish their training than those hired on other criteria (Hay/McBer
Research and Innovation Group, 1997).
Emotional Competence Reduces the Drop-out Rate
in Sales
- At a national furniture retailer, sales
people hired based on emotional competence had half the dropout rate
during their first year (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group,
1997).
Emotional Intelligence Leads to Success in Top
Executives Around the World
- For 515 senior executives analyzed by the
search firm Egon Zehnder International, those who were primarily
strong in emotional intelligence were more likely to succeed than
those who were strongest in either relevant previous experience or
IQ.
- In other words, emotional intelligence was a
better predictor of success than either relevant previous experience
or high IQ.
- More specifically, the executive was high in
emotional intelligence in 74 percent of the successes and only in 24
percent of the failures.
- The study included executives in Latin
America, Germany, and Japan, and the results were almost identical
in all three cultures.
References
Boyatzis, R. (1982). The competent manager: A model for effective
performance. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York:
Bantam.
Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group (1997). This research was
provided to Daniel Goleman and is reported in his book (Goleman, 1998).
Hunter, J. E., Schmidt, F. L., & Judiesch, M. K. (1990). Individual
Differences in Output Variability as a Function of Job Complexity.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 28-42.
Lusch, R. F., & Serpkeuci, R. (1990). Personal differences, job tension,
job outcomes, and store performance: A study of retail managers. Journal
of Marketing.
McClelland, D. C. (1999). Identifying competencies with behavioral-event
interviews. Psychological Science, 9(5), 331-339.
Pesuric, A., & Byham, W. (1996, July). The new look in behavior
modeling. Training and Development, 25-33.
Porras, J. I., & Anderson, B. (1981). Improving managerial effectiveness
through modeling-based training. Organizational Dynamics, 9, 60-77.
Richman, L. S. (1994, May 16). How to get ahead in America. Fortune,
46-54.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1990). Learned optimism. New York: Knopf.
Please contact us to see how
emotional intelligence can help you.
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