Last Updated on December 20, 2023
The four quadrants of Emotional Intelligence or EQ belong to two main realms – social competence, that is, how you handle relationships and personal competence, that is, how you manage yourself.
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness refers to the ability to understand and recognize your drives, mood, and emotions and how these affect other people. Developing this particular skill can be done if you pay attention to how other people impact your emotional state.
To adequately grasp this concept and enhance this skill, you need to broaden and evolve your emotional states. When you get to this point, you will have a better understanding as to how your emotional intelligence is influencing you and those around you.
Self-Management
Self-management pertains to the ability to redirect or control disruptive moods and impulses and the propensity of suspending judgment or thinking before you act.
You can improve your relationships when you learn to regulate your responses and emotions to situations. Skills in self-management let you express your personal ideas and deal with conflicts in an open and constructive way to improve your ability of getting along with other people.
Social Awareness
Social awareness refers to the ability of understanding other people’s emotional makeup and treating them based on their reactions by expressing empathy. It is also about being sensitive to the feelings of other people, and showing compassion, understanding, and concern to nurture more positive relationships.
Relationship Management
The final quadrant is relationship management which is the proficiency to manage relationships and build networks. It also involves the ability of finding common ground and building rapport. It is imperative to get along well with other people in every aspect of your life.
Having a true understanding of others’ needs without compromising your personal needs can help maintain relationships in both your professional and personal life. Relationship building and social skills can improve your ability of having a more effective collaboration with teams and groups.
The Importance of Developing Your EQ
There is plenty you can do should you wish to enhance any of the four quadrants of emotional intelligence. Did you know that people with the highest levels of IQ only outperform those with high EQ 20% of the time? On the other hand, people with high EQ and average IQ outperform people with high IQ almost 70% of the time. This means that boosting your emotional intelligence can boost your success in various areas of your life.
The best way to get a better understanding of your emotions and the EQ skills that you need to develop is to spend time reflecting on and thinking about them. Taking note of your feelings, how you respond to situations, as well as your triggers can help you have a better understanding of yourself. And the first step to do this is self-reflection. Work on all of the previously mentioned 4 quadrants of emotional intelligence starts once you do a quick self-assessment an identify your strong skills and determine the areas that require improvements.
Start developing your EQ today and see the changes that it can bring to your life!
