Emotional intelligence (or emotional quotient) as defined by Wikipedia is the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions.
In 1990, Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer coined the term "emotional intelligence," which they defined as " the capacity to perceive emotion, integrate emotion in thought, understand emotion and manage emotions properly."
In 1995, Daniel Goleman made the concept even more popular by defining it as ''the capacity for recognizing our feelings and that of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves as well as others''
He went further to give four essential components of emotional intelligence, viz: self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, social skill.
1. Self-management: This is the ability to manage and regulate one's actions, thoughts and feelings with a view to pursuing goals with the right energy and persistence.
He gave six competencies associated with self-management which are trustworthiness and integrity; adaptability; openness to change; self-control; initiative and strong desire to achieve.
2. Self-awareness: Goleman views self-awareness as the ability to read and understand your emotions as well as recognize their impact on others.
It essentially means having a basic understanding of how we feel and why we feel that way. Self-awareness is linked to three competencies: self-confidence, realistic self-assessment and emotional self-awareness
3. Social skills: This is the ability to manage relationships and build networks to get the desired result from others and reach personal goals
Social skills can be described as ''friendliness with a purpose'' or ''building rapport to achieve the personal goal".
It is linked to five competencies: Leadership, effectiveness in leading change, conflict management, influence/communication, and expertise in building and leading teams
4. Social awareness: This is the ability to observe the emotional makeup of other people and read situations appropriately.
The six competencies associated with social awareness are empathy, valuing diversity, service to clients and customers, organizational awareness, cross-cultural sensitivity and expertise in building and retaining talents