SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--What do educators, healthcare practitioners, the armed forces and FedEx all have in common? Professionals in these and many other fields around the world are leveraging emotional intelligence (EQ) training to reap the financial and workforce benefits associated with the EQ movement, according to new research compiled by Six Seconds, the world’s largest network of emotional intelligence experts.
Six Seconds, which has been tracking the EQ evolution since 1997, has discovered that as business becomes more complex with globalization and the accelerating pace of innovation, the value – and necessity – of “emotionally intelligent leaders” is gaining ground. A growing body of evidence shows that the ability to be smarter with one’s feelings is tied to improved leadership, relationships, decision-making health and well-being; all of which help higher EQ leaders create greater economic and societal value.
“EQ has quickly become a global movement that’s helping companies rebuild trust internally to make its employees happier and more productive, which in turn impacts the overall ROI,” said Joshua Freedman, chief operating officer for Six Seconds and the chairman of NexusEQ, a global conference taking place this summer at Harvard. “We now know that these skills alone predict more than 50 percent of performance – which is more than can be said for IQ, or even for technical skills. Companies implementing EQ have stronger leaders and more committed employees, which turns into productivity, loyal customers and profit.”
EQ – Explained and In Practice
Just as the traditional idea of cognitive intelligence is measured by IQ, emotional intelligence tests create an EQ score. Though various working models of emotional intelligence exist, all recognize the importance of accurately assessing emotional data, then integrating and applying it effectively. The Six Seconds model of emotional intelligence structures these into a three-step process for putting EQ into action:
- Awareness is “Know Yourself” – accurately assessing emotional data
- Management is “Choose Yourself” – consciously selecting emotional response
- Direction is “Give Yourself” – purposefully applying emotion toward significance
Among the benefits that organizations have reported:
- EQ has twice the power of IQ to predict overall performance
- High EQ salespeople at L’Oreal achieved $2.5 million more in sales
- An EQ initiative at Sheraton helped increase the hotel chain’s market share by nearly 25 percent
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The U.S. Air Force is using EQ to screen para-rescue jumpers to save
$190 million
(Source: The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence)
“FedEx has a ‘people first’ philosophy, and that’s one reason Six Seconds and EQ was a great fit for us,” said Jimmy Daniel, senior leadership facilitator at the FedEx Global Leadership Institute and a speaker at NexusEQ. “Some leaders have an innate ability to provide what’s needed to create a satisfying and rewarding work environment for employees, but many others need to develop this skill set. The EQ competencies help provide the road map for this development.”
Though the groups implementing EQ training are diverse, the end results are similar:
- Healthcare: Nurses who communicate caring to patients achieve better clinical outcomes – their patients are more likely to follow medical advice and less likely to return for the same ailment.
- Education: Students who have stronger emotional intelligence skills do better on tests and have fewer problems with negative behaviors such as violence, dropping out and smoking.
NexusEQ Conference
The seventh NexusEQ conference will take place at Harvard University from June 24-26, and will feature 80+ experts helping leaders learn how to leverage the science and practice of emotional intelligence to improve prosperity and well-being in the workplace and community. More than 300 participants will collaborate with some of the world’s best neuroscientists, authors and experts on emotion and learning to begin incorporating EQ into their lives and business practices.
“Neuroscientists have shown that today’s data-driven world demands more from the cognitive brain, which unfortunately curtails the brain’s ability to process emotional information,” Freedman said. “We’ve seen a 30 percent reduction in empathy over the last 10 years, and nearly seven of every 10 employees say they receive little to no useful feedback – but even in this environment, EQ training is creating positive changes. People are over-stressed, under-supported and on the edge of chaos, so the skills we’ll see at NexusEQ are urgently needed to enable people to perform.”
For more information and to register, please visit www.nexuseq.com or contact Jenny Wiley at jenny@6seconds.org.
About Six Seconds
Founded in 1997, Six Seconds is the first and largest not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development of emotional intelligence (EQ), a powerful toolset to support positive change — everywhere. Research conducted over the past 15 years shows that the scientifically-based skills of emotional intelligence – which are essential for change – are learnable, and predict stronger effectiveness, influence, decision making, health, relationships and quality of life.
The Six Seconds Network, targeted to grow to one billion by 2039, includes more than 50,000 virtual members, more than 5,000 certified practitioners, dozens of preferred partners and 10 international offices under the guidance of an international team visionary change leaders. For more information, please visit www.6seconds.org.