2.5 Emotional intelligence

The Department for Education’s ‘Employer skills survey 2017’ (Winterbotham et al., 2018, p. 49) highlights key skills that are reported as lacking. At the top of their list are self-management skills, comprising ‘managing own time and task prioritisation’ and ‘managing own feelings/handling those of others’.

The second part of that statement is commonly known as emotional intelligence, defined by Mayer and Salovey (1990) as the ‘ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions’.

Daniel Goleman (1998) adapted their model to identify five basic emotional and social competencies:

1. Self-awareness
2. Self-regulation
3. Motivation
4. Empathy
5. Social skills

Emotional intelligence is a very valuable attribute in the workplace because it enhances communication and relationships. This video below explains the concept in more detail.

In the next section, you’ll check your understanding of these and other key skills valued by employers.