How Can I Measure My Emotional Intelligence Level?

How to act in annoying situations?

How well are you able to express your feelings?                                                                  

How much do you give yourself to know your goals and to be able to motivate yourself to achieve what you want?

Indeed, all of these questions pure in an important and elemental topic in self-development that touches all aspects of life, which is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a chief key element, of which being cognizant and aware will enable you to improve your life, especially on the level of your relationship with yourself and others around you. Emotional intelligence has received a great deal of attention recently; and this is reflected mainly by the sizeable research conducted, the many books published, and the big number of programs relating to emotional intelligence. With this much attention it has gained, a number of measures have been designed to help people identify the level of their emotional intelligence and thus know the things they need to improve and develop their personality traits in order to raise their emotional intelligence to the hog heavn level.

In this article, I will talk about an international measure of emotional intelligence, the EIQ-2 measure, which is ranked as one of the most widely-used measures thanks to the precise and detailed information it provides in this regard, but before that, I will discuss the meaning of emotional intelligence and why it is important, and then move  to more details on the measure.

What is emotional intelligence?

There are many different definitions of emotional intelligence. Although there are differences between them, most of them share many similarities. Here are some of these definitions:

1. “The capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.” Oxford Dictionary
2. “ The ability to understand the way people feel and react and to use this skill to make good judgments and to avoid or solve problems.” Cambridge Dictionary
3. “A person's ability to manage his feelings so that those feelings are expressed appropriately and effectively to enable people work together in harmony towards common goals.” Daniel Goleman

You may notice that in each definition, feelings or emotions are mentioned as an essential part of emotional intelligence. And the fact is that they are so. Still, emotional intelligence includes two more important components also: thoughts and behavior. Accordingly, emotional intelligence can be defined as:

The awareness, perception, and management of thoughts, emotions, and behavior to form good and healthy relationships with oneself and with the others.

Therefore, emotional intelligence consists of three important parts:

If we go back to the definition of emotional intelligence above, the following diagram summarizes it. This applies to the relationship with oneself and with others.

The importance of emotional intelligence

As the definition of emotional intelligence suggests, it is clear that it affects all aspects of life. Every behavior, action, and emotion is the result of either a high or a low level of emotional intelligence. Therefore, many studies and research focused on this topic, which prove its importance:

• UC of Berkeley conducted a study in which it was stated that EQ is 4 times stronger than IQ as an indicator of success.
• In another study about what international companies look for when recruiting, it was found that 67% of recruitments depend on emotional intelligence compared to other competencies.
• In 1976, a study found that 85% of financial success depends on emotional intelligence.
• For job performance, those who have good emotional intelligence have 70% better job performance compared to those with a high IQ level.

These figures indicate evidently that EQ helps achieve better performance and higher success rates. By improving and increasing your emotional intelligence, the following will also improve automatically:

• Communication skills
• Building relationships
• Decision making
• Leadership skills
• Teamwork
• Productivity
• Performance
• Creativity
• Conflict Management
• Stress management

If we compare a person who has a high EQ level with another person who has a low EQ level, these significant differences will appear as follows:

Emotional Intelligence Measure EIQ-2

One of the advantages of emotional intelligence is that it is not static. That is, it is changing and can be improved and developed. When a person works seriously to raise his level, he will, by result, develops himself and improves his relationships; besides that he will positively affect all aspects of his life. Therefore, through the measure, you can know your strengths and weaknesses, and then identify the necessary steps to be taken to raise the level of your emotional intelligence and thus change for the better.

There are different measures of emotional intelligence, but the most important of which and widely used globally, and which Octarium Center provides is the EIQ-2 measure. This measure is based on the theory of Daniel Goleman, the pioneer in emotional intelligence and the person known for spreading the understanding of this type of intelligence in his book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ.

The EIQ-2 measure has been designed based on Daniel Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence, which he divided into four domains as:

• Self-awareness
• Social awareness
• Self-management
• Relationship management

As can be seen in the previous sketch, there is an arrow connecting the four domains together. That is, there is a relationship and a mutual influence between them. Under each domain, five key elements are measured. Through these detailed elements, it is possible to know and determine what one needs to develop himself and improve his relationships.

Domains of emotional intelligence measure:

Self-awareness

Self-awareness includes everything you need to know about yourself, such as your self-appreciation, self-confidence, awareness of emotions and how they affect or affected by behavior:

1. Self-awareness/understanding: It means being aware of your identity and mental image you have about yourself in addition to emotions, stimuli, and desires, and linking them to your self-view in different situations. It also includes empathy, self-understanding, and knowledge of the causes of your different emotions.
2. Cause and effect: This includes knowing and understanding the behavior and their effects on emotions and moods, differentiating between external and internal factors that affect emotions, and knowing the effect of emotions on performance.
3. Self-appreciation, acceptance, and confidence: This denotes developing self-esteem and self-worth and dealing with personality traits. It also includes knowing the strengths, weaknesses, and personal obstacles, and working on balancing them.
4. Consciousness and assertiveness: This means setting private and appropriate boundaries to be respected by others besides choosing an appropriate method and life path that expresses self-appreciation through self-care and self-interest.
5. Emotional identification: It means one’s ability to identify and name the feelings and emotions experienced and to use words and meanings that allow him to choose and react to situations in an appropriate manner. It also includes deep thinking about the available information about himself.

Social awareness

Social awareness means being aware and caring for the feelings and reactions of others, besides the ability to empathize with and sense changes in their feelings through which good relationships are formed.

1. Empathy, sensitivity, and appreciation: This includes understanding and being aware of others' feelings and emotions even if they are not directly expressed (e.g. tone of voice and body language) and giving them effective feedback.
2. Service, compassion, and benevolence: This necessitates contributing to the good of the others’ lives, and providing assistance and help to them in order to make better and improve their mood and feelings; and this in turn includes identifying the needs, desires, requirements, and understanding different ideas and points of view.
3. Holistic Communication: It means the ability to effectively send and receive information, including emotions, through good listening, communication with others, and understanding verbal and non-verbal signals and expressions.
4. Situational/ perceptual awareness: This implies knowledge and awareness of variables and changes and paying conscious attention to them, and the ability to communicate effectively, as well as adapting and understanding the factors that affect the reactions and behavior.
5. Interpersonal development: It signifies developing communication with others and building strong, good, deep, and long-term bonds that facilitate work and collaboration, whether for personal or professional relationships.

Self-management

Through being self-aware, you can manage yourself effectively. This means that you can evaluate yourself, regulate thoughts and feelings, and control what affects the achievement of the desired goals and results.

1. Self-control and discipline: This means being able to control hasty reactions and keeping calm during stress situations, by focusing on performance and choosing the appropriate behavior. It also includes the ability to persist on achieving goals with positive emotions.
2. Goal-directed performance/Targeted actions: This signifies being focused on achieving long-term goals, and persistence and continuation in the direction of the goal. And this implies taking risks, facing challenges, continue planning, resisting obstacles, and seizing opportunities until the goal is achieved.
3. Integrity and trustworthiness: It denotes the ability to work with a conscience and high ethical principles based on personal standards, values, ​​and principles. This means that you are a person that others can trust and rely on and have credibility because you keep promises and take full responsibility in situations that require being so.
4. Motivation, positive psychology and initiative: This component means  having the ability to encourage and motivate oneself by controlling feelings, thoughts and psychological state, knowing cause and effect relationship and choosing the cause that leads to the desired result, in addition to taking full responsibility for success and self-reliance through optimism, reducing negative emotions, and avoiding unhelpful behavioral patterns.
5. Creativity, agility, flexibility, and adaptability: This implies being able to adapt and attune to changes, development, and transitional stages. This includes flexibility when faced with the changing events, relationships, and feelings. It also implies using curiosity and imagination to create, discover, and seize opportunities, including creativity in development and the ability to transform feelings and ideas to face change, solve problems, and think outside the box.

Relationship management

This domain focuses on the basic skills in forming fruitful social relationships that enhance cooperation and communication.

1. Developing relationships and getting along with others: This component implies developing and maintaining personal and professional relationships for a long time based on strong communication and bonds.
2. Leadership and influence: It means the ability to deal with others with love, friendliness, and a charismatic presence. This element has a strong link with attention and focus on and achieving the desired results. It also includes active participation and showing strength and passion in relationships, in addition to providing solutions and helping others to succeed and engaging with them in achieving goals.
3. Change catalyst and response: This means the capacity to recognize the importance of the need for change and working on it, developing communication skills with others, taking initiative, and contributing to the growth and development of individuals, groups and organizations, in addition to facilitating the achievement of excellence and success, and focus on positive results.
4. Negotiation and conflict management: As its name suggests, this denotes having the ability to negotiate and think towards resolving conflicts based on the belief that there are multiple solutions, adapting to conflicts and dealing with them positively, dealing with difficult people and situations with balance, and focusing on the gains and benefits that result from these conflicts.
5. Teamwork and collaboration : It signifies building close bonds with others and transforming individuals into collaborative and interdependent groups by focusing on union, helping others, and engagement in achieving common goals.

Language of the measure

The measure is available in English, but Octarium Center provides Arabic translation. The result report is in English and there is no translated version yet. Still, you can take the measure with an analytical session, not only for translation, but for more in-depth knowledge of the result. For that, in all cases, whether you need translation or not, the analytical session has many benefits, the most important of which is identifying the desired goals through this measure.

Question method

There are 36 questions on the EIQ-2 Emotional Intelligence Measure. Each question contains either a comparison between two things or your impression about yourself or towards a given situation. For each question, you have five choices: Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither agree nor disagree, Agree, Strongly agree, where you you will have to choose the appropriate answer that expresses your opinion. It is very important that you answer the questions honestly so that you have a result report that reflects your reality to enable you know your real strengths and what you need to change.

Target group

This measure targets everyone who wants to develop and improve their lives, specifically building a good relationship with himself and others. Studies and research have proven that emotional intelligence is a key indicator of high performance and productivity. Therefore, international companies are keen to measure the level of emotional intelligence of potential employees, especially for leadership positions, besides sales and customer service employees. Still, for more clarity about the target group, it  can be identified as everyone who wants to obtain important information to achieve the following:

• Raising the level of self-appreciation and confidence;
• The ability of self-control and thought management, feelings and behavior management;
• Designing and implementing an effective plan to achieve personal and professional goals;
• Motivating oneself and others;
• Raising the ability to solve problems and face challenges and crises;
• Effective communication with others;
• Reducing stress at work;
• Building a close-knit family or a strongly-bonded work team and having a strong relationship;
• Raising performance, productivity, and creativity.

finally,

Through this article, I hope that you have conjured up a clear picture of the emotional intelligence measure EIQ-2, which is designed not only to identify the level of your EQ, but also to help you build an effective action plan aimed at forming a good relationship with oneself and others and raising the level of emotional intelligence, as one of the most important indicators of success, and to live a positive and happy life.

Cleck here to order or book the emotional intelligence measure,

Written by: Coach Areej AL-Omari