Managers @ Work, June 2010: 1. Management qualities of today not only exist of hard skills anymore; soft skills are getting more and more important

IQ matters, but it is only a small part of what makes people succeed in their work and personal life.

People throughout and beyond the business community started talking that management qualities of today not only exist of hard skills (IQ) any more, but that soft skills (EQ) are getting more and more important. Studies on this subject support that soft skills have a greater impact than hard skills on career success, outstanding individual performance, leadership and the creation of successful teams.

“Hard skills” are technical or administrative procedures related to an organization’s core business. Hard skills are typically easy to observe, quantify and measure. Furthermore, they are also easy to train since most of the time the skill sets are brand new to the learner and no unlearning is involved (Coates, 2006). To measure hard skills the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is often used. The IQ measures intelligence, toughness, determination and vision (Motneni, 2009).

By contrast, “soft skills” (also called emotional intelligence) are typically hard to observe, quantify and measure. Soft skills concern about how people relate to each other, via communicating, listening, engaging in dialogue, giving feedback, cooperating as a team member, solving problems, contributing in meetings and resolving conflict (Coates, 2006). To measure soft skills we often refer to the Emotional Quotient (EQ). EQ consists of 5 components, which are:
1. Self awareness: people with a high degree of self awareness know their strengths and weaknesses and they are not afraid to talk about them. Can I accurately identify my own emotions as they happen? (Motneni, 2009; Goleman, 2000, Boyatzis, 2009)
2. Self regulation: people with this trait are able to control their impulses and use them for good purposes. Can I manage my emotions to achieve a positive outcome? (Motneni, 2009; Goleman, 2000; Boyatzis, 2009)
3. Motivation: people with high motivation have a passion for achievement for their own sake (Goleman, 2000; Boyatzis, 2009)
4. Empathy: emotional intelligence requires a ability for dealing with others. (Goleman, 2000; Boyatzis, 2009)
5. Social skill: the ability to build rapport with others, to get people to cooperate and to move them in the direction you as a manager desire (Goleman, 2000; Boyatzis, 2009)

(Goleman D. , 1998)

Several researches found statistically significant positive correlations between scores on the emotional intelligence scale and scores on the performance scales (Mohapatra, 2010; Goleman, Boyatzis). This means that increased emotional intelligence scores are associated with increased performance among executives working in various sectors. These results provide evidence of the concurrent validity of the emotional intelligence scale and also support the notion that emotional intelligence is associated with more or less workplace performances.

Organizations usually focus on recruiting employees with highly specific analytical and technical skills. Although a certain degree of analytical and technical skill is a minimum requirement for success, emotional intelligence is referred to a key attribute that differentiates between the average performers and the outstanding performers. “IQ turns out to be a threshold ability; you need to be smart enough to get in the game, once you are in the game however, the distinguishing competencies are becoming more and more important” (Goleman, Authors at Google: Daniel Goleman, 2007; Motneni, 2009).

Below you find a graph of how the hard skill quotient (IQ) is related to the soft skill quotient (EQ).

As already discussed, to be in a management function you need to be smart enough to get in the game, once in the game however, the distinguishing competencies are becoming more and more important. The graph depict a random population of people in the working environment. The vertical axis represents the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and the horizontal axis represents the Emotional Quotient (EQ). The blue and green area are normally the IQ standards for managers. However, you can also make a distinction between these high IQ people. The green area represents the small group of managers, that possess both high IQ, but also high EQ. In fact these people theoretically should be the best managers. Research has shown that 80 – 90 % of top leaders are in the high emotional intelligence domain (Goleman, Authors at Google: Daniel Goleman, 2007).

Below you find a video from author and professor Daniel Goleman, in which he presents emotional intelligence in correlation to IQ. In this video he explains very clearly that top managers nowadays not only depend on their hard skills, but that their soft skills are becoming more and more important.