The role of emotional intelligence has recently been hailed as being just as important, maybe even more, as cognitive ability in leadership. Employers look for these traits in interview candidates and also seek to assess and improve the same in their current workforce. Emotional intelligence enables leaders to not only see and express their emotions constructively but to also understand and adjust emotions in their subordinates. Emotional intelligence has the advantage of being behavior-based, and therefore very malleable. This classification is important because the information obtained in the assessment of EI can then be put into objectives to be worked on. Several assessment tools are available for organizations to look for and develop these skills. The choice of the assessment tool to utilize is then determined by the goal of the assessment exercise.
Assessing For Emotional Intelligence
Currently, executive leaders discover that they have to develop their influence and efficiency by increasing their emotional intelligence. Furthermore, emotional intelligence increases employee management and is important when a leader hopes to set a particular tone in their organization ( Tett, 2019 ). Recently, the importance of emotional intelligence has rivaled, and maybe even surpassed, that of cognitive ability and organizations assess this intelligence in their hiring prospects and even in their current workforce (Coetzer, 2009). The amount of empirically evaluated measurement tools for emotional intelligence available for organizations is also steadily increasing. These tools may be used to identify and develop talent, as well as to manage it. The suitability of the approaches is dependent on the situations and the result that is anticipated from the analysis. Emotional intelligence in the workforce, and especially in leaders, should be constantly monitored and improved.
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Emotional intelligence may be explained as a person’s ability to manage their emotions while also being able to recognize and influence the emotions of other people around them (Coetzer, 2009). Leadership often requires coaching, managing stress levels, providing critical analysis, and also collaborating with others. These situations have made emotional intelligence a prerequisite for executive positions. Emotional Quotient (a measure of Emotional intelligence) has been noted by hiring managers as the strongest predictor of performance, with reports suggesting that employees who possess these traits are more likely to maintain calmness during pressure, resolve conflicts and show more empathy (Boyatzis, 2018; Landry, 2019 ). Another key factor of Emotional intelligence in leadership is its role in emotional expression. Since employees look at the leader for hints, leaders have to express the right emotions at the right time to motivate and control the emotions of their subordinates. For these reasons, promotion to executive positions has experienced a transition from analyzing technical and intelligence capabilities to EQ as a predictor of adeptness.
Riggio ( 2008 ) notes that leadership, rather than requiring a specific skill, entails a sort of generic skills or abilities that need to be embodied by all leaders, regardless of the industry or situation they lead. Similarly, Boyatzis ( 2018 ) suggests that Emotional Intelligence (EI) consists of a behavioral aspect that goes beyond the mental ability and personality traits of an individual. EI exists within a personality as a performance feature and a set of behaviors that may then be used to assess benefits, validity, and challenges. As a result of this acknowledgment, the ESCI (Emotional and Social Competency Inventory) was established to show how emotion management affected interpersonal interactions and the management of emotions (Boyatzis, 2018). Doubts regarding the behavioral aspect of EI may be countered by analyzing the content of competencies included in the EI model, which was established by the ESCI. EI was theoretically determined to consist of emotional awareness, self-management, and social awareness as well as relationship management as the overlying factors. Emotional awareness covers awareness of a person’s own internal states while self-management concerns the management of these states, adapting and exercising self-control (Coetzer, 2016). Social awareness refers to how relationships are handled and how awareness of other people’s feelings is expressed. It also consists of empathy. Relationship awareness consists of skills of eliciting responses from others and includes coaching, inspiring, and managing conflicts.
EQ assesses the ability to identify and interpret emotions in a person as well as others. The classification of EI as a set of behavioral characteristics would mean that measuring it would help with the training and coaching to enable people to change the way they act (their behaviors). Assessments would provide feedback and direction regarding how changes in behavior and actions would increase the efficiency, contentment and engagement of others (Cotruş et al., 2012). Behavioral measures of EI may be implemented by interviewers or executive coaches to test or to affect a specific behavior related to EI abilities. Additionally, altering a specific behavior through an individual’s actions would be more practicable and less time-intensive (for a behavioral characteristic rather than for a distinct intelligence component) and this would explain the preference of an EI assessment for senior leadership (Coetzer, 2016).
Most companies now use teams as the units for service. With this change in strategy, there arises the need for productive behavior tendencies from team members, and especially team leaders. Research on intelligence (defined as the capacity for thinking, emoting, and acting to achieve constructive results) and performance has divided intelligence into cognitive and personal elements (Coetzer, 2016). The personal component includes intrapsychic and interpersonal skills. These skills encompass behavioral and psychological (regarding interpretation, states, and intelligence) mannerisms, which become more important if they are affected by external stimuli (Coetzer, 2016). Research conducted on emotional intelligence and individual behavior as predictors of performance has suggested that the mean level of emotional intelligence among team members and the emotional intelligence of the team leader are reliable predictors of the team’s performance (Boyatzis, 2018).
Although the importance of team leaders who have the necessary cognitive ability (IQ) cannot be overlooked, IQ does not indicate efficacy abilities. Increasing the EQ of team leaders is more helpful for increasing confidence, efficacy, and other soft skills. For a leader to influence the behavior and actions of their subordinates, they have to show the capacity for sensitivity in resolving conflict and creating a suitable work climate (Coetzer, 2016). Having superior ideas and being knowledgeable would be inefficient if a leader still has difficulty trying to establish relations while controlling their colleagues and their own emotions. Training and team interventions that seek to improve emotional intelligence may affect executive leadership performance positively, which is convenient since emotional intelligence may be altered.
The Genos Emotional Intelligence Assessments was created to assess leaders in business who might want to improve performance by increasing their emotional intelligence. The assessment is based on the theory that a leader’s emotional intelligence is important for eliciting emotions from their teammates to improve performance and employee engagement ( Genos International, 2019 ). The survey compares a perceived demonstration of competence and effective leadership offered by the respondent to the respondent’s beliefs on the same. The assessment is suitable for internal talent assessment for promotion or development since the discrepancies recorded can then be used to prioritize development actions.
The validity of the report may be confirmed by comparing the results obtained with feedback and perspectives offered by others. An alternative validation technique would be a 360-degree survey conducted by an employer or the Genos organization, which would be requested via email. These assessments are bought using pre-purchase tokens that may be used with any of the variety of assessment types offered by Genos. Tokens are then deducted with each joining participant.
The main disadvantage of this assessment is bias. The 360-degree assessment might be inaccurate since the raters may intentionally alter their answers. However, it also has the advantage that it provides reliability since the opinion offered by their colleagues’ offers the most reliable predictor of the individual’s performance ( Palmer, 2019 ). The assessment would be suitable for talent assessment and developing emotional intelligence. It would not, however, be well suited for hiring or recruiting externally. This is because the responses (as well as their referee’s) might be manipulated and may be misleading and unreliable.
The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) incorporates a series of objective and impersonal questions to test its user’s ability to see, interpret, and control emotions. The tests use scenarios in everyday life to estimate the performance and emotional aptitude rather than using subjective assessments ( MSCEIT, 2019 ). The test seeks to avoid situations that may cause misleading information due to fabrications to create positive associations. The assessment may be used to evaluate a candidate’s suitability before external recruiting. It may, however, also be used while trying to determine the factors influencing knotty behavior or emotional functioning ( MSCEIT, 2019 ). The assessment is performance-based which makes it more reliable than the competency-based approaches (like the aforementioned Genos) where self-administrated assessments are concerned. The assessment also reduces method bias in the respondents by initiating several tasks in the emotional intelligence ability sectors. The positive-negative bias score and the scatter score detect infrequencies and detect careless responses and enhance the validity of the final report ( MSCEIT, 2019 ). The organization offers assessment packages averaging $75 per item, for an online or software administration with each session taking 45 minutes or less for completion.
Since the assessment is not affected by socially desirable responding, its main advantage is its suitability for the Recruitment and Selection process. The assessment, however, does not look at how the respondent uses emotional intelligence and it has to be coupled with interviews or role-plays to ensure the candidate is the right fit ( Palmer, 2019 ). The assessment would also be less helpful if it is conducted to develop emotional intelligence.
The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIue) is an assessment that seeks to provide operationalization of individual differences and examine their impact ( Petrides, 2019 ). The TEIQue measurement is purely based on behavioral EI theory (several factors like assertiveness, self-esteem, adaptability, etc.) which provides comprehensive details of the emotional traits of an individual. The assessment tool may be used to develop emotional intelligence but it might also be handy in establishing the underlying causes of problematic traits or understanding emotional functioning. The validity of the assessment is more guaranteed than other forms of self-assessment. This is because the trait analyses are not looking at competency and the valuation is less likely to be fabricated. The items used for this assessment are available for free download, to be self-administered, with varying completion times according to the size of the package opted for.
The main advantage of the assessment tool is its ability to measure a variety of behaviors. This is optimal for talent development where a person wants to understand themselves better. This may, however, also be a disadvantage since the results may be difficult to organize and interpret and the approach may complicate matters ( Palmer, 2019 ). The large models may thus end up providing lots of unusable information. The assessment may also be unusable for recruiting purposes since the respondent may portray themselves falsely due to conflicting motivations.
Even if a leader has shown impeccable cognitive ability, the impact of these skills might be worthless if the leader fails to effectively communicate and collaborate with his subordinates. Potential leaders need to undergo assessments and interventions to improve their levels of emotional intelligence to increase their team’s (as well as their own) performance in an organization. Emotional intelligence assessments provide a reliable measure of psychometric properties. However, different approaches may be more suitable for some instances rather than others depending on the advantages and disadvantages of the particular assessment. The MSCEIT would be best suited for external recruits, the Genos assessment would be handy for development purposes, and the TEIQue would be the best tool for talent assessment or for analyzing emotional functioning. Emotional intelligence is important for successful leadership performance and as such, it should be regularly assessed and developed.
References
Boyatzis, R. E. (2018). The behavioral level of emotional intelligence and its measurement. Frontiers in psychology , 9 .
Coetzer, G. H. (2016). Emotional versus Cognitive Intelligence: Which is the better predictor of Efficacy for Working in Teams?. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 16(2), 1161.
Cotruş, A., Stanciu, C., & Bulborea, A. A. (2012). EQ vs. IQ which is most important in the success or failure of a student?. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 5211-5213.
Emotional Intelligence Assessments | Genos International. (2019). Retrieved 19 August 2019, from https://www.genosinternational.com/assessments/
Landry, L. (2019). Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Why It's Important. Retrieved 19 August 2019, from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/emotional-intelligence-in-leadership
Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). (2019). Retrieved 19 August 2019, from http://www.eiconsortium.org/measures/msceit.html
Palmer, B. (2019). Which is the best Emotional Intelligence Assessment? | Genos International. Retrieved 19 August 2019, from https://www.genosinternational.com/which-emotional-intelligence-assessment-should-i-use/
Petrides, K. (2019). Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue). Retrieved 19 August 2019, from http://www.eiconsortium.org/measures/teique.html
Tett, R. (2019). Importance of EI in Leadership Roles - SIGMA Assessment Systems. Retrieved 19 August 2019, from https://www.sigmaassessmentsystems.com/importance-ei-in-leadership-roles/
Riggio, R. E. (2008). Leadership development: The current state and future expectations. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research , 60 (4), 383.
