Emotional Intelligence Has for Many Years Been

Emotional intelligence has for many years been an accepted skill in business, if one tough to measure. Emotional intelligence is a predictor of managerial success, and that it can be measured through performance analysis, rather than through testing. As business today has become more oriented towards teamwork, there has been a push to analyze the level of emotional intelligence in the team setting. There are multiple dimensions to emotional intelligence -- self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. The same skills that lead to a high EI level are the ones used in teams -- since teamwork is defined by a high level of social interdependence. Positive, effective interpersonal relationships are an important element of successful teams. A high EI contributes to such relationships. Assessing the EI of teams therefore rests on the ability of management to assess these particular traits within the team and its individual members.

One of the skills needed in a team setting is that the team members, and leaders in particular, must address the issue of each individual's emotions. It is important that all team members are on the same emotional wavelength. There are instances where one team member may deviate from team norms with respect to behavior, for example by engaging in individualistic activities such as empire-building. In these instances, it is for the rest of the group to moderate this behavior, to have that individual conform to group norms. Groups need to be aware of the emotional level of their own members, and that requires some degree of conversation. The free flow of communication between group members, especially the ability for group members to speak frankly but without conflict, is a sign of a team with healthy emotional intelligence. In addition, team members should be able and willing to work together, and give each other credit where warranted. This latter aspect of communication would serve as direct evidence that empire-building was not taking place within the team.

The group needs to set its own emotional levels, so that there is a common group emotional level. It is desirable for teams to establish common group emotions in order to establish clear norms. This way, those whose emotional level deviates from the group norm can be more easily identified and the group can establish strategies to deal with that emotional level. Management can see, for example, when one member of the team contributes less or is isolated from the flow of communication. Employees who do not make as much effort towards team goals are a symptom of team-wide emotional intelligence issues, because they represent the withdrawal of emotional engagement from the project -- and the first employee to do this is probably not going to be the last. The disgruntled employee, therefore, is a canary in the mine for a breakdown of overall teamwide emotional intelligence.

Governance, therefore, is both at the team level and the leadership level. For example, one of the basic abilities of an emotionally intelligent leader is to accurately appraise others' emotions as well as effectively portray personal emotion. The leader must be the spearhead of good team governance; therefore the leader should have a high level of emotional intelligence. Arguably, the higher the EI level of the leader, the higher the overall EI level of the team will be, because the leader with set a tone of team-wide governance, reduce incidences of individualistic behavior such as empire-building or social loafing, and keep the team members focused on team objectives. For the outside manager, assessing the team's level of emotional intelligence -- in the quantity and quality of its communications and in the engagement of the team members -- can also be proxy for an assessment of the emotional intelligence of its leadership.

The main ways to assess the emotional intelligence of the team are through analysis of its communications, the engagement of its members, and its outputs. The latter is indicative of its motivation and self-regulation. Engagement reflects motivation, social skills, empathy and self-awareness; communications are indicative of a team that scores well on self-regulation and social skills. These three measures combined give an accurate reflection of how to assess the emotional intelligence of a team.